


A Change in Reality:  Volume Three

by IzzyIzz, jademoonfire



Series: A Change in Reality [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:46:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 40,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzyIzz/pseuds/IzzyIzz, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jademoonfire/pseuds/jademoonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The third and final installment of the Change in Reality series.  Raina is in Asgard with Loki while Rachel's in Midgard with Steve and they both miss each other, but when they are reunited, it's not in a way that anyone would have imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, voice full of worry, from his seat in the back of the black SUV.  
Today was Tony’s birthday and he had, as per his usual standards, decided to throw a large party in celebration. However, at the last minute, the Avengers had been called in to deal with a potential global catastrophe in a secret location. Tony had insisted that the party continue and called up Rachel and Gwen to go to keep up face as well as give Pepper some real company. 

With Gwen and Rachel, Tony had seen an opportunity to keep the two women busy by continually calling on them when he needed someone to do press related things for himself, and occasionally the Avengers. Tony had used the excuse that since he and S.H.I.E.L.D. had falsified records for Gwen, Rachel and even Raina, they might as well be tested. And, with the press trying to find out as much as they could about Rachel and Gwen, the faked records were tested, constantly. So Tony would call the pair and they would, with varying degrees of unwillingness, put on clothes that neither of them liked and go to Stark Tower for whatever reason Tony had called them for.

Rachel sighed, running her hand through her hair, “I have to Steve, I promised. It doesn’t mean that I want to.”

Steve looked over at her, not convinced that Rachel should be exposed to so many members of the press at once. A month ago, Rachel had threatened a man, following her with his camera, with his life and had nearly gotten sued for it. Both of them knew that the only reason she wasn’t sued was because of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intervention.

“What about the-”

Rachel leaned over and kissed Steve on the lips to reassure him. When she pulled away, she said, “I wouldn’t have agreed if I thought I couldn’t handle it Steve.”

Steve sighed and nodded, “Okay.”

“Here you are Miss Flyte.”

Rachel looked at the driver, “Thank you,” then leaned over and kissed Steve again, “Be careful and come back in one piece, okay?”

“I always do,” Steve smiled at Rachel. She opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle, immediately being surrounded with people who had cameras and microphones. Rae shut the door quickly and straightened up, looking for Gwen, who had also just arrived. The two of them met and grabbed each other’s hands for support.

Neither Gwen nor Rachel permanently lived in Stark Tower anymore, though they did spend as much time there as they did in their own arrangements. Gwen couldn’t suddenly change her desires to stay in motion, so she had spoken to Bruce and the two of them agreed to change locations every few weeks while keeping their floor on Stark Tower as a home base. Rachel had been much like Gwen, though for different reasons, she had realised that she and Steve needed their own space after she accidentally lifted everything in the building that wasn’t attached to the floor while she and Steve had been making love, so Tony quickly found a comfortable apartment for them, though they had wanted a smaller one. Tony had insisted that it be a birthday present for Rachel, whose birthday was in late January. Pepper had advised them that they might as well accept because Tony wasn’t going to let it drop, so they eventually agreed.

Rachel held onto Gwen’s hand as they pushed past the members of the press to get into Stark Tower. Gwen felt that ever since Raina had gone to Asgard, Rachel had lost all of the control that she had over her emotions and had definitely become more volatile, which made her particularly dangerous around authority figures and the press. As they were pushed while trying to make their way into Stark Tower, Gwen had, with a great deal of effort, put Rachel into a daydream, which was something that Rachel had agreed to after the incident of her nearly getting sued.

The women quickly made their way towards the entrance to Stark Towers and things were going well until Gwen and Rachel were separated. As soon as Gwen was forced to let go of Rachel’s hand, Rachel began to feel the side effect of being put under Gwen’s influence, paranoia, and exposed by the people who were crowding around her.

“Are you and Captain Rogers an item?”

“How exactly did you meet Tony Stark?”

“Are you in a relationship with Tony Stark and does Miss Potts know?” 

“Does the Captain approve of you constantly coming over to Stark Tower?”

Rachel tried her best to ignore the questions as she pushed past the mass of people and made her way closer to the building. She finally found Gwen and gave her an expression that begged, “Please help me.”

Gwen was trying to fight her way over to her friend when they both heard the question.

“So how much does Stark pay you a night and does Pepper get in on it too?”

Rachel saw only red as she sought out the voice. She saw the man who had made the offensive comment as Gwen reached Rae and pulled her closer to the building. He was a short man with greasy brown hair and a smug look on his face. When he saw Rachel glaring at him, he stepped forward and blew her a kiss, which made Rae snap.

She broke free of Gwen’s grasp and swung at him, only missing because Gwen yanked her back and yelled at him, “Yeah and you’ll never get to see the tapes!” Gwen’s statement caused the man’s jaw to drop and everyone else to go silent, which gave them enough time to get into the building.

“What the hell Rae?” Gwen asked angrily as soon as they were safely inside.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said, “I just can’t stand when they-” Gwen’s look softened when Rachel’s voice faltered, Rachel sounding close to tears. 

“It’s okay,” Gwen said, thinking that Rae was looking closer to a nervous breakdown every time Gwen saw her, “I understand Rae.”

Rachel nodded and the vulnerable side that had been showing was completely gone as she straightened up and headed over to the elevator. When they reached the floor the party was going to be held on, they heard Jarvis.

“Welcome Misses Flyte and Halcyone. Mr. Stark would like for me to inform you of his opinions of the fantastic entrance he felt you made.”

“If he has so much time to watch us on the news, then why isn’t he here?” Rachel asked Jarvis.

“He is currently en route to his destination.”

“Uh huh,” Gwen said skeptically.

“Doesn’t matter really,” Rachel said dismissively as she and Gwen walked into the kitchen. The pair of them always raided Tony’s fridge before an event, though he always had so much in it, they were never sure if he noticed. 

“Where were you this time?”

“San Francisco.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Well, we didn’t do much sight-seeing, but we had a nice time,” Gwen paused, “While it lasted.”

“If only you hadn’t agreed to come back here,” Rachel joked as she reached into the fridge and started taking out freshly cut deli meats and expensive cheeses.

“Without Bruce, there’s not much else for me to do in California,” as she grabbed a loaf of French bread.

Rachel smiled at Gwen, “Sounds like it’s going well then.”

Gwen rolled her eyes but returned the smile, “It is. It’s not perfect all the time, but we’ve also got the Hulk to work with.”

Rachel laughed as she cut the loaf in half, and then cut the two halves to make the sandwiches with.

“Do you really think we should have a whole loaf of bread? That’s a lot.”

“I plan on drinking a lot. I’m not doing it on an empty stomach,” Rachel argued.

“Fair enough,” Gwen laughed as she unwrapped the meats and gave Rachel turkey, while using the ham for herself.

“We’re thinking about going to South Africa next time,” Gwen said after they had finished making their sandwiches.

“That’s pretty far away,” Rachel said as she put the cold things back into the fridge, keeping her back to Gwen.

“Bruce wants to work more with the Hulk, but we want to make sure that, if things don’t go that smoothly, there won’t be any people in the way.”

Rachel turned around and looked at Gwen with concern, “Are you sure about going all the way to Africa?”

“I trust Bruce,” Gwen said, knowing where Rachel’s concern was coming from, “And I know that there’s enough of Bruce in the Hulk for me to trust him too. I know it’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Rachel smiled.

“What about you?” Gwen asked as they sat down at the island in the kitchen.

“Things are fine, you know, when I’m not worried about Steve’s safety while he’s running around saving the world or the rest of the Avengers for that matter, or when I’m having to play P.A. for Tony.”

Gwen laughed, “Being a P.A. for Tony is a drag. Have you written anything recently?”

“No, not since Christmas,” Rachel admitted, “But I do have a part-time job being Tony’s assistant,” Adding after a moment, “Not even sure how that happened.”

Gwen smiled, but said nothing as they ate in silence for a few moments, feeling as though things were worse than Rachel was telling her if Rae hadn’t written in three months.

“How about things in the special ability category?”

“Good,” Rachel nodded, “I’m getting better, believe it or not.”

Gwen smiled, “I never said you were bad.”

“I nearly lifted Stark Tower off of its foundation.”

“Well, that only means that Steve’s really good in bed and you should share details.”

Rachel blushed and looked at Gwen, “You’re really never going to stop asking that are you?”

“Not until you tell. I mean, you did lift everything in here five feet in the air.”

“Stop reminding me. You’re almost as bad as Tony.”

“Well, it was his building that you could’ve destroyed. Speaking of, how’s your apartment holding up?”

“The apartment is fine. And, don’t tell Tony, but I’m really glad he picked out the one he did. It might be obscenely huge, but no one can find it, so Steve and I are actually sort of safe there.” Gwen nodded, knowing that Rae was talking about the press and paparazzi who were trying to find out more about the Avengers, Gwen and Rachel.

“Well, you could just stay on the move like me and Bruce,” Gwen joked.

Rachel chuckled, “I wasn’t ever a big traveler; I like to pick a new spot every once in a while, but I think it would kill me to constantly be on the move, no offence.”

“None taken; my idea of a great life won’t fit everyone else’s ideals.”

“Plus, this is Steve’s home and Tony would throw a hissy fit if I ever tried to quit a job that I’m not even paid for.”

“That could’ve been his plan all along,” Gwen smirked, “He just wanted you to come back here because he realised you’d be a great replacement for Pepper as his assistant.” Gwen knowing that Tony called Rachel for help every few days to make sure she was doing something since she had major writer’s block and it gave her a chance to take care of someone, which is what they thought was the only way they could replace Raina.

“You’re probably right,” Rachel laughed.

“Misses Flyte and Halcyone, you have a call from Miss Potts.”

“Well by all means, don’t keep her waiting.”

“Hello?”

“Hey Pepper,” Gwen and Rachel answered simultaneously.

“I’m so sorry but I’m going to be running late to the party.”

“What?”

“How late?”

“Just about a half hour, but I was supposed to give a speech before the party actually started, because Tony couldn’t be there, and now you two are going to have to give it.”

“No,” Gwen said.

“Sorry, I’m not good with the public,” Rachel said.

“Actually, I’d like to take Rae’s excuse too.”

“My ‘excuse’ is the truth.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter because I’m already sending a copy of the speech to you.” As soon as Pepper finished speaking, Rachel felt her phone buzz, causing her to sigh.

“I’ve already broken it down and highlighted where each of you will be speaking. It’s not very long and all you have to do is jump up there and apologise for mine and Tony’s absences then talk about amazing Tony is and then commence the party. No big deal.”

“Pepper,” Rachel whined.

“I really am sorry Rae, I got held over and traffic’s bad,” Pepper said, dropping her business-like tone.

Rachel sighed, “Fine, we’ll do it.”

“Thank you so much, I owe you both.”

“Yeah well, you’re out of Swiss, so we’ll call it even.”

The pair heard Pepper laugh, “Okay then. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome,” they answered before Pepper hung up.

“I guess we practice a speech now, huh?”

“Let’s finish eating first.”

“Rae, have I ever told you that I like the way you think?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Who’s ready to partaaay?” The DJ yelled into the microphone as he turned the music on and the crowd yelled. Rachel and Gwen stood next to one another in the crowded room. It had been a few hours after the incident when they were arriving and both women had had time to finish eating, nap, take a shower, practice their speech and get ready for the party then still have more time to catch up with one another before it had actually started. As people danced around the two women, they glanced at each other, rolling their eyes. They didn’t want to be here and were still upset with the fact that they had to start the party with a speech on Tony’s behalf because Pepper couldn’t

“Hey guys,” Pepper said, coming up from behind them, “You look like you’re having fun.”  
“When can we leave?” Gwen groaned as she looked, pleading, to Pepper. Several guys had tried to flirt with the two women and they were getting tired of it. Gwen was glad that, so far, the men that had approached them were still sober enough to understand the word “no” and would back off when the pair would explain that they were in relationships, which meant that she didn’t have to stop Rae from attacking them. Rachel was also having a difficult time getting into the party spirit because she was worried about Steve, and the rest of the Avengers and she would occasionally wonder what Rain would be doing if she was with them.

“Don’t worry, it’ll probably calm down in another four or five hours. Till then,” Pepper grabbed some drinks from the table nearby and handed them to the two. “Might as well enjoy it for now.” Pepper grabbed a drink for herself. “To Tony?” Pepper shrugged.

“Eh, to Tony.” Rachel added.

“To Tony.” Gwen sighed. The three women downed the drinks. 

Throughout the night, the three continued to drink. Gwen and Rachel continued to be confronted by guys looking to dance or have a private party, during which Gwen had to refrain Rachel from punching most of them in the face. Lastly, Gwen and Rachel stayed with each other, to scare off any other guys that might come their way. After the party ended, the three women made sure that the guests had all left before collapsing in their own beds for the night.

+~*~+

Rachel woke up the next day with a headache. She lay on the bed, thinking about Raina and what she might be doing. Rachel sighed; she desperately missed her best friend. Steve, Gwen, Pepper and the Avengers were the best people that she could be around, but they weren’t Rain. 

Rachel smiled to herself for a few seconds thinking about how Rain used to describe their friendship as being soul mates. She frowned, thinking about how right Rain had been. There was very little that Rachel did without thinking about Raina and Rachel had had a major writer’s block since she and Rain had been apart, it was going on three months since she had seen Raina, including the time of the Christmas dinner. Rachel shook her head to clear it and only succeeded in making it swim, causing her to moan. 

“I have got to stop drinking,” Rachel mumbled to herself before sitting up.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes Miss Flyte?”

“What time is it?”

“It is nine o’clock in the morning.”

“Okay,” Rachel said. As a punishment for herself, she got dressed and went through her usual morning routine before walking out of the room and heading towards the kitchen for something to relieve her hangover. She got some aspirin and water, taking it quickly. Rachel was sitting at the bar on the table when Gwen and Pepper walked in. 

“I think we should make a pact never to go to another one of Tony’s parties,” Gwen said, holding her head, as Rachel handed her a glass of water and aspirin.

“Agreed,” the other two said, though they knew they wouldn’t stick to it.

“How’s your head?” Rachel asked Pepper.

“I’m okay; I didn’t drink as much as you did.”

Rachel smiled sheepishly at Pepper, “I was revenge drinking?”

“I’m sure Tony was able to feel your angry drinking from wherever he was last night.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Just then Tony came into the room.

“Oh,” Gwen said, being the first one to notice him, “Speak of the devil.”

Pepper and Rachel laughed and turned to look at Tony, Pepper stopping when she saw the look on Tony’s face.

“Tony?” Pepper asked uncertainly.

Tony looked over to Pepper then back to Rachel.

“The first thing that I want you to know is that he’s stable,” Tony said while looking at Rachel and slowly walking towards her.

Rachel “What are you talking about?” 

Steve,” Tony clarified, “He’s…hurt.”

“Hurt? No. He’s supposed to be indestructible,” Rachel said, shaking her head. 

“What happened?” Gwen asked.

“Well,” Tony said as he stopped within a few steps of Rachel, “Steve was kinda buried under a pile of rubble while trying to save Natasha, which he did do, he just got trapped instead.”

It didn’t take a mind reader to see the guilt that was washing around in Rachel’s thoughts.

“Rae,” Tony said, taking a step forward, “You can’t blame yourself. I mean, maybe if you had been there and he got buried under a pile of rubble, then sure, but you weren’t even there. It’s like Clint still blaming himself for all of the people he killed while he was under Loki’s control.”

“The tesseract’s control,” Rachel corrected without thinking.

“Exactly,” Tony said, placating her, “You can’t blame yourself for the fact that your boyfriend was crushed under enough rock to kill someone because you weren’t there on a mission you weren’t even invited to come along on.”

“Tony,” Pepper cut in, “You’re not helping.”

“But it’s not like he’s going to die,” Tony added quickly after looking back at Pepper, “He’s going to live, but no one’s really sure the shape he’s in because he’s one of a king. But the doctors don’t think that he’s going to be in that great of a shape because he’s still technically human.”

“Where is he now?” Rachel asked, standing up.

“In the helicarrier.”

“How are we getting there?”

“Waiting on a Quinjet right now, but I can’t let you go until you calm down.”

“I am calm Tony; I just need to get to Steve. I’m fine.”

“I know that you think you are, but you’re not,” Tony said, “Look around the room.”

Rachel looked and saw that everything that wasn’t attached to the ground was levitating a few inches off of whatever surface it was supposed to be on.

“Shit,” she said letting everything land in its spot.

Tony put his hands on her shoulders, “Take a few breaths and then we can see.”

Rachel nodded and they waited as she took a few deep breaths.

“I think I’m okay now.”

“Are you sure?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah, I’m good; I just want to see Steve now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as of right now, Wednesday will probably be update day for those of you who are interested.
> 
> and don't be afraid to chat with us, we don't bite unless asked.


	3. Chapter 3

“Loookkkiii!” Raina whined into Loki's ear for what seemed like the fiftieth time that morning. The two had been lying in bed after yet another session of lovemaking; Loki had just barely begun to doze off when Raina began whining in his ear, complaining about how he “just wanted to lay around today.” He enjoyed the sensation of her body against his; the only problem was getting Raina to be still long enough to really enjoy it.

 

 

“Loki!” Raina tried again as she crawled atop of him, straddling Loki's waist. His only response was a slight grunt. Raina frowned when she found that she still could not get a response, slumping down and lying limply on his chest. When Loki felt that Raina had stopped moving he finally opened his eyes. Raina lay with her chin in the middle of his chest, eyes wide open and staring at him; her bottom lip was puffed outwards in a pout.

 

“Come now Rain, can we not merely lay here for the day?” Loki spoke up finally, wrapping an arm around her waist and rolling them over to where they both lay on their sides.

 

“No.” Raina groaned. “ I wanna do something. I just...” She could not think of the right words to describe her feelings.  She felt sad and, for reasons she didn’t know, fear tingeing on the edge of that sadness.

 

“You miss Rachel.” Loki spoke for her.

 

“Yeah, I guess, you know, I've been with her for ten years and suddenly she's not there.”

 

“I know that it cannot be easy for you. The pair of you have been each other's support for a long time. You are not going to be accustomed to the change overnight. But you cannot rely only on sex with me.”

 

“Maybe not, but it does make me _feel_ good.” Raina purred as she leaned towards him, capturing his lips in a kiss. Her hands began to travel over Loki's chest before he finally pulled away from her; Raina groaned softly.

 

“That may be, but you are getting out of this room and interacting with the others.” Raina groaned even louder as she rolled over to bury her face in the pillows. “And you shall enjoy it.”

 

“Ugh, fine,” Begrudgingly, Raina stood and began to put on some clothes. ”But I expect some good sex later tonight.”

 

“If you can behave yourself dear.”

 

“Yeah yeah.” Raina rolled her eyes as she walked back over to the bed, “Oh so you make me get dressed and then you continue to lay there?” Arms crossed, Raina stood next to their bed tapping her foot on the ground.

 

“Yes, well, unlike you dear,” Loki rolled himself over to her, raising himself from the bed. “I have magic.” As Loki stood his body began to glow, seconds went by before the glowing turned into his armour.

 

“Ugh, gods.”

 

“Come now Rain, I know exactly what you need.”

 

+~*~+

 

“A sparring match?” Rain questioned excitedly as Loki and her reached the training grounds. Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three were already there currently watching Fandral and Hogun as they sparred.

 

“Rain! It is good to see you well and about!” Thor beamed as the couple made their way over.

 

“Yes we thought perhaps Loki had murdered you in your sleep or something.” Fandral spoke up jokingly as he and Hogun joined the group. Raina let out a creepy cackle.

 

“Ah yes, that'll be the day! Good one though, good one.” Rain laughed, giving them all an uneasy feeling. “But anyways, I wish to spare. Now, the question is against who?” She stood in thought, tapping her finger lightly against her chin.

 

 “Fandral, why don't you spar with Raina, demonstrate your form and such?” Sif spoke up, in hopes of making up Raina's mind for her.

 

“I-what? I just finished sparring with Hogun; allow someone else to have a chance?” Fandral recovered quickly.

 

“I just ate a good helping of boar and am still letting my stomach settle.” Volstagg spoke up next in hopes of escaping a fight against Raina and her lunacy.

 

"Why don't you be a gentleman and spar with the lady?" Raina smirked. Fandral grimaced before muttering a quiet “fine.” Raina grabbed a staff from the nearby weapons rack as Fandral was walking over to the middle of the area.

 

"You choose a staff to fight against a sword, odd choice." Fandral commented while he watched Raina move to stand a few feet in front of him.

 

"I'm well aware of my oddities, they make me who I am, but you should try less to worry about my weapon choice and more on dodging my attacks." Raina began to charge forwards towards Fandral, staff raised high.

 

“You are going to have to be more creative than that to defeat me, my lady.” Fandral laughed as he deflected her attack with his sword.

 

“Oh, don’t you worry ‘bout a thing.” Raina smiled as she flicked her wrist. The next thing   
Fandral knew, he was being thrown a couple feet in the air before landing roughly back on the ground. “Do you yield?” Raina placed the end of her staff at his throat, as she stood above him smirking.

 

“You and Loki are just alike, tricksters the both of you.” Fandral groaned as he began to get up from the ground. Removing the staff from him, Raina offered him a hand to help pull him up.

 

“Ready for round two?”

 

“I think I shall pass, perhaps Loki and you could spar.” Fandral suggested as he moved to stand next to the others. Raina sent a disturbed looking grin towards Loki, who in turn grimaced slightly as he thought of what all Raina might have planned.

 

“Yes brother, I am sure it would be most entertaining.”

 

“Do I look like some form of entertainment to you?” Loki dryly asked, giving a dull unamused look towards Thor. “But if you insist.”

 

“Ooh, we’ve never sparred before, this gonna be fun.” Raina grinned as she watched Loki get into position.

 

“This should be interesting.” Sif spoke up.

 

“Two tricksters pitted against each other.” Volstagg amused.

 

“Both of them specializing long range attacks.”  Hogun added.

 

Raina twirled the staff in her hand as Loki conjured up his own staff before moving closer towards her. “Ready love?”

 

“Of course.” Raina smirked before charging forward.

 

“Always making the first move I see.” Loki laughed as he brought up his staff to block Raina’s.

 

“Naturally, it’s all about me after all.” Flicking her wrists Raina knocked out Loki’s feet out from under him. “How you like that!” The next thing she knew, Loki had disappeared. “Shit!” Raina shouted as she quickly turned around to face with the real Loki, only to be thrown backwards by his magic.

 

“Hey! Not fair!”

 

“I am the god of mischief my dear, what do you expect?”

 

“And I am the god of mischief’s lover.” With a massive gust of wind, Raina blasted Loki back, his feet scraping across the ground and kicking up some dust.

 

“Very good love,” Loki smiled at her as he started to saunter towards her.

 

Raina, with a flick of her wrist, sent out a gust of wind, verifying that it really was Loki and not just an illusion.  Raina smirked before she rushed at him, being surprised when he disappeared, reappearing behind her and grabbing her arm, turning her completely around.

 

“Your attacks are too obvious my dear,” He said as he kissed her forehead. Raina growled before pulling Loki towards her.  As he leaned down to kiss her, she hit him with a large blast of wind.  Loki flew backwards and it was only through the use of magic that he managed to land unsteadily on his feet with a shred of dignity.

 

“Obvious you say?” Raina smirked.

 

To the surprise of the onlookers, Loki laughed.

 

“You’re going to be one of the fiercest warriors in all the nine realms love.”

 

“Thanks,” Rain said as she ran at Loki with her staff, this time turning around the moment that Loki disappeared.  Rain swung at him as she turned, forcing him to catch the staff with his hand.  Loki pulled the staff away from Raina, her grip on it forcing her towards him.  They both dropped the staff simultaneously as Loki pulled her against him for a smoldering kiss.

 

“Oh come on you two, get a room!” Fandral called out.

 

“Oh we will.” Raina turned and gave the group a mischievous smile before Loki did a slight wave with his hand. Suddenly, a wave of water crashed down on the five Asgardians, soaking them. When they looked to the training field to complain to the two, they found both Loki and Raina had disappeared. 

Back in Loki and Raina’s shared room, the two appeared, doubled over in laughter.

 

“That was pretty genius love.” Raina cooed leaning into him.

 

“Why thank you my dear.” Loki purred as he leaned his head down mere inches away from Raina’s face.

 

“Do I get my prize then, for being such a good little girl?”

 

“Why yes love, I think you just might.” Loki closed the gap between them, capturing Raina's lips fiercely while his hands traveled down to her waist to pull her closer into him. Raina moved her hands smoothly over his chest and up into Loki's hair, tightly entangling them.

 

“Aren't you feisty today,” Loki purred when they pulled away for air.

 

“Sparring will do that to a girl.” Raina smirked up at him, just before she captured his lips yet again. While Raina was caught up in the kiss, Loki slowly spun them around as he maneuvered them towards the bed. Once the back of Loki's legs hit the bed, he fell on his back onto the bed pulling Raina with him to straddle his waist.

 

Raina's hands slid down to Loki's chest, pushing off some of his armour. Loki's hands traveled up under Raina's shirt, pushing it off as he did so. Raina reached around her back and removed her bra, tossing it to the side, while Loki removed the rest of his upper armour with a light glow.

 

“I do hope you are ready for a treat my dear.”

 

“Always am.” Suddenly, a second pair of hands found themselves being placed onto Raina’s breast, kneading them.  Raina let out a moan as she turned her head to see one of Loki’s, shirtless, doppelgangers kneeling behind them.  “Kinky.” Raina moaned out, laying her head back on the doppelganger’s shoulder.

 

The Loki that knelt behind Raina, pulled her back to lay against him more, allowing Loki to swiftly pull off Raina’s trousers and the last of her undergarments. Raina let out another moan, her eyes shutting, as her lower body was hit with a slight gust of wind she was involuntarily creating. When she reopened her eyes, Raina found both the real and illusioned Loki just as absent of clothing as she was.

 

Loki sat up to kneel in front of Raina, bending down as he took her into his mouth. Raina took a sharp breath in as she felt Loki’s tongue delving inside of her. One of her hands rested on the illusioned Loki’s waist, while the other gripped Loki’s hair tightly as he continued licking and sucking on her womanhood.  As Raina began to feel herself getting close, Loki pulled away, earning a slight pout from Raina. Moving out of the illusions hold, Raina leaned over to capture Loki’s mouth in a kiss, tasting herself on him. Suddenly, Raina pulled away from the kiss and took the illusion’s manhood into her mouth, leaning over on her knees as she did so. Loki took this time to grab at the sides of her waist as he knelt behind her, pushing himself into her wet womanhood.

 

Raina let out a moan as Loki began to push himself in and out of her, her mouth vibrating around the illusion’s manhood. While one of Raina’s hands was keeping her up on the bed by her elbow, the other was firmly grasped around the illusion’s manhood, stroking it up and down where her mouth could not reach. Another moan rumbled through Raina’s throat as she, once again, could feel herself getting close, only to have Loki pull himself out just before she could reach her peak.

 

Releasing her hold from the illusion, Raina turned to make a comment, but found herself being pulled against the illusion yet again as both of his hands found Raina’s breasts.

 

One of the illusioned Loki’s hands left Raina’s breast, moving down her stomach towards her womanhood. Raina bit down on her lip as his fingers lightly rubbed over her. “I believe you are more than ready for the both of us my love.” He spoke into her ear.

 

“Then give it to me.” Raina demanded, back arching outward as her heaving breasts glistened with slight sweat. Loki pulled her down to lay on top of him, her breasts splayed out onto his bare chest, as he kissed her deeply.  Loki’s hands traveled down Raina’s body, stopping once he reached where his manhood stood erect next to Raina’s entrance.  With the other hand on Raina’s waist, Loki pushed himself inside of her. Raina let out a moan as she re-accustomed herself to him.

 

“I hope you are ready for more my dear.” The illusioned Loki purred from behind her. Out of the corner of her eye Raina could barely make out the illusion rubbing a substance onto his manhood then pushing two of his fingers into her backside. Raina let out a moan at the odd feeling that came from the cold substance, whimpering when he finally pulled his fingers away, just before he pushed himself into her other opening.  Raina let out a gasp at the new sensation she was feeling. Once Loki noticed Raina was ready both he and his illusion began to move themselves in and out of Raina, causing her to let out a quiet squeal of delight at the sudden movements and the sensations that came with them.

 

The illusioned Loki found his way to Raina’s neck and began to bite, lick, and suck on it, while Loki still held her lips captive. Raina broke away from the kiss as she let one of her hands to be entangled in both of the Loki’s hair. The sweat began to build on their bodies as they were set into a rhythm, their bodies moving against each other.

 

Due to all the teasing Loki had put her through prior, Raina’s body was now extremely sensitive, every thrust, lick, and bite felt so sensitive; she could feel herself rising quickly to a climax. Laboured breathing came from all three of them as the tension continued to build up. Loki’s hands went to grasp at her waist, forcing her to move faster, while the illusion went to fondling Raina’s sweaty breasts.

 

“L-Loki!” Raina managed to say through all the ecstasy that was coursing through her body.

 

“Not yet my dear.”

 

“Just a bit longer.” The illusion finished the thought, his breath teasing her inner ear lobe. It took all of her self-control not to come right then and there as he lightly licked and nipped at her ear. Suddenly, the illusion’s hand shot to grab around Raina’s throat, gripping it firmly while his other hand went to steady himself against the headboard of the bed.

 

“Never shall any other creature touch you in any way like this, do you understand?” Loki muttered into the opposite ear from where the illusion was still nipping at her hear.

 

“Y-yes Loki.” Raina barely managed to stutter out.

 

“I do not believe I heard you, my dear.” The illusion lightly spoke into her ear.

 

“Yes my king!” Raina nearly shouted as her body spasmed in an orgasm. Feeling Raina tightening around them, both Loki and the illusion came. As she collapsed onto Loki’s chest, Raina felt the illusion fade away, leaving her feeling somewhat emptier.  

 

Hours later, after fading in and out of sleep, they still remained as they were, Raina splayed out on Loki’s chest with him still inside of her, neither feeling like moving.

 

“Feeling any better my dear?” Loki finally spoke up upon feeling her wake up again.

 

“Yes much, and I daresay that was one of my favourite positions.” She smirked up at him, a finger lightly drawing circles on his chest, while her other hand lay off to the side on his shoulder.

 

“You can expect that and much more to come.” Loki moved one of his hands from her waist and placed it on her cheek, moving some of her stray hair out of her face. “Promise me that if you ever feel sad or any of the sort ever again you will let me know? I care for you too much to allow you to wallow in sadness.”

 

“Don’t worry Loki, I’m fine now and of course I will tell you if there’s anything ever wrong with me.” Raina placed a light kiss onto his lips before laying her head back down on his chest, drifting off to sleep again.

 

Raina had no idea why, she knew that she had always had moments where she would randomly drop into a depression, but this, this was different. It was like she was not completely depressed, yet she was. Raina did not want Loki to worry too much, she did have a tough girl act to keep up, so for now, she would keep it to herself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed the smut before shit starts to go down.  
> ~Jade


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel sat next to Steve’s bed. For his own benefit, he had been put into a medically induced coma. His body had been burning through the morphine that they had been trying to put into his system. The doctors on the Helicarrier had told her that they had no idea how much pain Steve had been in before they put him in the coma, but they were certain that he wouldn’t stay under for long.

Bruce told Rachel that, because of the super-soldier formula, Steve hadn’t broken any bones, but the weight of the rubble along with the force of it would mean that he would actually be sore for a few days. Bruce made sure that Rachel knew that Steve most likely wasn’t in any pain at all before he had been put in a coma and that the coma had only been because of Steve’s system burning through all pain relievers that the doctors had tried to give him and they didn’t want to take any chances.

Rachel had thanked Bruce before he left and she just stayed next to Steve’s bed, occasionally putting her upper body on it to rest while she sat in the chair. During the next two hours, Rachel said nothing to the constant stream of the people that came in and out of the room to check on both Rachel and Steve. Though she knew that Steve was actually going to wake up, she still felt depressed about everything. As she sat by Steve’s bed, she couldn’t help but feel alone.  
Rachel once again put her head on Steve’s bed, feeling a dark sense of déjà vu, being reminded of the other times that he had sat next to someone’s bedside after they had been in an accident. She sighed and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep. She dreamed of Raina and herself being over in their reality and Rain driving a motorcycle near a body of water with ice all around them. Rachel woke up with a start. Steve had put his hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked after she lifted her head up and looked at Steve.

Rachel smiled and leaned forward, kissing Steve lightly on the lips, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

“I’m going to be fine; I’m not exactly normal.”

Rachel’s smile faded a bit, “None of us are normal.”

“What’s going on?”

“I was just really worried about you and I had a weird dream,” Rachel answered before reaching for Steve’s hand, “How are you feeling?”

“Good, a little sore,” Steve said, causing Rae to smile.

“What?”

“Bruce said that you’d be sore. You didn’t break anything though.”

“Super-Soldier formula,” Steve said.

“I know. Speaking of, next time, pull whomever you’re saving instead of pushing them. I’d rather not go through this again,” Rachel joked.

Steve smiled and leaned towards Rachel, kissing her, “I’ll try to remember.”

“You better,” she mock-ordered, “I don’t want to lose you too.”

Steve’s smile faltered and Rachel asked, “What?”

“Can we talk about what’s going on with you? And I mean what’s really going on,” Steve asked. After a few seconds of silence, he assumed that he wasn’t going to get an answer.

“Rachel,” Steve asked, attempting to get her to look at him.

“I miss my best friend,” Rachel said, looking up at him, “But you already knew that, so why even ask?”

“It’s more than that Rae; you’re having nightmares,” Steve started, “You’re not sleeping.”

“There was a time you couldn’t sleep either Steve,” Rachel countered softly.

“My reasons were a little different.”

“They’re just dreams about stuff that’s happened to me. It’s not like anything new.”

Steve took Rachel’s hand, “There’s got to be something new if you don’t want to sleep because of it.”

“I- I keep dreaming about everyone’s deaths,” Rachel said, glancing up to Steve, gauging his reaction, “My family’s,” she clarified, “I mean, it’s not like it didn’t happen every time someone died, but- I don’t know,” she said, not really wanting to say how she felt, “I just feel like my family’s gone. I went from caring for and protecting everyone to being the one that needs to be taken care of a protected.”

“You’re not entirely defenseless Rae,” Steve said.

“It’s not just that- It’s-” Rachel paused, wondering if she had gone too far.

“Go on.”

Rachel took a deep breath, “It’s like everyone left me. Everyone who’s alive anyway. Rain’s gone to Asgard, Gwen’s running around the planet and you’re out saving the world every other night.”

“Rae-”

“I’m not blaming you,” Rachel said, looking up at Steve, “I knew what I was getting into with you. I just didn’t think I’d feel like this- like I don’t fit.”

“Tell me how to help,” Steve said, searching Rachel’s eyes for an answer.

To his surprise, Rachel chuckled, leaning back in her chair, “If I knew how to fix it, I would’ve done it already. I know that I probably shouldn’t be Tony’s assistant though; I didn’t go to college for four years and get a degree in English only to help Tony plan his day. But I can’t write; I can’t sit at a computer that isn’t really mine and try to write,” she finished, close to tears, feeling a spike of arousal suddenly shoot through her and she wondered where it had come from.

“Rachel,” Steve said, causing her to focus on him rather than her random emotions, “Pepper’s usually here. You could try and make that relationship stronger. But more importantly, sweetheart, you have to start thinking of here as your home, and I’m not just talking about the apartment. This reality is yours now. If you can’t believe that then you’re never going to feel right about being here.” 

Rachel glanced at Steve hopefully, “Do you really think that would help?”

“Trust me,” Steve smiled, “I’m an expert at feeling out of place. Things didn’t start working out for me till I realised that this is it; this is where I’m going to live. You have the advantage of wanting to come here before you actually got here, so in theory it should be easier for you.”

Rachel looked at Steve with shock unchecked on her face, though she was also feeling embarrassed for not realising that her own attitude was part of the reason that she didn’t feel comfortable being in the Marvel Universe, Rachel was mainly shocked with the fact that she had forgotten her situation. She didn’t know when, but she had stopped thinking of Steve as the comic book character come to life and had started to think of him as a real person and the love of her life. Rae hadn’t even been thinking about everything that she knew about Steve without asking him, she had become focused on the man in front of her, here, in the present. Then she immediately started feeling guilt for being so obsessed with her own problems.

“Rae, I know that look,” Steve started, “Stop feeling guilty. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Except be selfish.”

“You’re allowed to be selfish, you’re trying to find your place in a world where you technically shouldn’t exist,” Steve joked, “It’s a little difficult.”

Rachel smiled and leaned forward to kiss Steve, “Thank you.”

“I feel as though it’s my duty to impart my knowledge to those who need it; I am Captain America after all.”

Rachel giggled before kissing Steve again, “It’s still appreciated.”


	5. Chapter 5

A Few Months Later  
+~~*~~+

“Come now Rain, Thor has gotten this feast together to cheer you up, you have to go.” Loki said to the young woman that lay on the bed next to him.

“I don’t know Loki, I’m just,” Raina sighed as she rolled over to her stomach and stared out of the balcony of their room and out at the sky, “Sad.” Loki climbed further onto the bed, straddling her waist from behind as he leaned over and lay on top of her. Raina groaned. “You're heavy.”

“That's not very nice.” Loki spoke into her ear. Raina snorted.

“Fine, I'll go.” She sighed. “Now get off of me you fatty.” Loki chuckled as he rolled off of her. Raina got off the bed and went over to their closet, looking through the clothes. Grabbing a pair of forest-green trousers and golden vest and put them on.

“What is this, no dress?” Loki teased. Raina rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bed.

“As if I was the type to wear dresses.” Raina placed her hands onto her hips as she looked down at Loki still on the bed. “Now, I do believe we have a feast to go to.”

Raina and Loki made their way to the feast hall, where Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three already awaited. The couple sat themselves at the table next to Thor, opposite of everyone else, with Odin and Frigga at the very end.

“I see Loki managed to convince you to join us in feasting, Rain.” Thor beamed, giving Loki and strong pat on the back. “Try the ale; I believe you will find it very delectable.” Thor suggested.

“Or you could not.” Loki added, knowing how strong Asgardian ale is.

“Um, have nay wine?” Raina asked.

“I like her,” Fandral laughed. Loki gave him a quick glare before quickly dismissing it as soon as Raina placed a hand onto his leg underneath the table.

“How has your stay been, Raina?” Frigga asked.

“It has been the one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. I always wanted to visit Asgard and see the palace of gold.” Raina spoke happily as she gave the queen a smile.

“I'm overjoyed to hear that.” Frigga smiled at the young woman.

“It is good to see that both of my sons have found wonderful women who love them so dearly.” Odin said proudly. Raina smiled, as she blushed, looking down to try and cover up her red face. The group began to eat the various foods that occupied the table top. They shared small talk as they ate, laughing and joking. Raina and Loki suddenly glanced at each other. Raina made a slight gesture with her hand. The next thing the group knew, Thor was laying on his back on the floor. As everyone else was making sure he was okay, Raina and Loki were sitting quietly, looking down at their food and trying to hide their smiles.

“Thor?! Are you alright?” Sif was the first to ask.

“Yes, I must have slipped.” Thor assured. Raina snorted, covering her mouth with her hand as if to keep herself from laughing further. Thor looked over at her, scandalized.

“I'm sorry Thor, it was purely for fun, I won't do it again, I promise.” Raina stopped laughing, giving him an earnest look. Thor stood, fixing his chair back up and sitting down once again. Seconds later, Raina waved her hand again, making Thor's chair fly from underneath him, sending him flying onto the floor again. The third, time both Raina and Loki burst into laughter. Across the table, Sif stared on in disgust as Volstagg and Fandral watched in horror at the thought of another Loki running around the palace. Once again, Thor stood up and set his chair back up and sat down.

“Okay okay, I'm sorry, last time. I couldn't resist.” Raina told him as she tried to catch her breath.

“Yes, we are terribly sorry brother.” Loki grinned. Raina began to raise her hand for a third time, but brought it back down as Loki and her looked over to Odin who was giving them a stern look. Raina and Loki cleared their throats, before looking down to their food, attempting to hide their smiles.

“So,” Fandral began in an attempt to get everyone's mind off of the occurrence of Raina's pranking, “Thor tells us that you and Loki are just alike, do you also have 'daddy issues' as Loki did. Do you?” Raina's smile immediately fell from her face, as did Loki's who knew, too well, of Raina's past. Fandral had meant it as a joke regretted it as soon as he saw the looks on their faces. “Raina I-” He attempted to correct his mistake.

“How dare you speak of such issues of which you know nothing about!” She shouted at him, standing from her seat and placing her hands firmly on the table. Before anyone could say anything else, Raina bolted out of the hall. Loki gave Fandral a stern look before running after her.

“Pompous, womanizing punk!” Raina growled angrily to herself as she reached the palace gardens, sitting herself in the middle of some type of emerald-green rose looking flowers. Suddenly, she was overtaken by an intense dizzy feeling. Raina grabbed her head as she fell to the ground. She watched as her surroundings began changing, everything catching on fire.

“So you are the young mortal who has captured the heart of the God of Mischief? I dare ask what is so special about you. So pathetic looking you are.” Raina heard a deep, dark voice speak to her through the fire. Using her control over wind, Raina parted the fire to see the speaker.

“No...” She whispered horrified.

“I see you recognize me. You have some interesting abilities mortal. I could use you...”

“You wouldn't dare!”

“Oh, but I do.” Raina felt herself being lifted up as she fell down from vertigo; she was sitting in the middle of the fire demon's large hand. “You are nothing to him. No one really wants you; they only keep you around because they pity you.”

“You're lying!” Raina screamed, tears streaming down her face; the flames around her grew immensely from the wind she was causing to rage.

“Am I now? Your parents never loved you either. Just like the young prince, you were always looked over.”

“I've come to terms with that fact! That's why I left them!”

“Have you? Have you really? Or is that why you cry yourself to sleep at night?”  
Raina's eyes widened; she had never told anyone about that, not that she cried that often anymore.

“H-how do you know that?! I've never told anyone about that!” Raina was starting to lose control now. She could feel that Surtur was trying to turn her and was fighting against it the best she could.

“Your stubbornness and strong-mind are amusing and admirable, but you will give in, just like the Enchantress.”

“Amora!” Raina whispered in realization to herself.

“Yes, she was a tough mind to break, but with you, mortal, it is only a matter of time.”

“I don't care what you say demon, I'll never turn away from Loki or any of the Avengers or my friends. They accept me for who I really am!”

“Are you sure about that? Are you sure that they do not just tolerate you because they pity you?” Raina looked to her feet.

“I.....they're my friends...” Raina felt as if she was shrinking while Surtur was getting taller. She felt suffocated. “You're just trying to get my guard down to control me!”

“Oh, but I'm not. I speak only the truth to you.” Surtur boomed down at her. “Join me and you will never be alone again. Join me and you will never be judged or criticized for not being what others want you to be.

“I....” Raina felt herself at a loss for words as she began to lose control of her own will.

“You listen well mortal, you work for me now!” Raina's vision was clouded by flames as she blacked out for mere seconds, regaining consciousness back in the gardens of Asgard.  
“I will do as you wish, my lord.” Raina muttered to herself as she was engulfed in flames, disappearing from the gardens.

“Rain! Rain, please come back! Fandral was merely jesting!” Loki rounded the corner as he left the palace and entered the gardens. “Rain-” Loki stopped, his heart seemingly stopping. Several feet in front of him, Raina sat on the ground muttering to herself, before disappearing in a flash of fire.

“No...” He whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we take turns updating and Izzy forgot to update last week and she forgot to update, so here's two updates in one day.  
> ~Jade


	6. Chapter 6

Fire. She was fighting against fire, but it was more than that. More than just consume her, the fire wanted to possess her. It was reaching into her mind, pulling out everything that she had buried deep, all of her doubts and fears and insecurities. Everything that she hid on a daily basis was bubbling to the surface to drown her, but she fought. Half of her wanted to give up, hell, some part of her had, but the other half, the stronger half, screamed “Fight!” Even when asked by the resigned part, “What for?” The belligerent half screamed, “Because you have to!”   
She continued to struggle to get towards the surface, to get away from the fire, to get away from this crippled version of herself. She felt like she was trying desperately to wake up, but just couldn’t quite make it, as if every time she evaded one evil, another one would pull her away from her destination.

Somehow she knew that she had to fight, that she was fighting for more than herself. She had to get away from everything that was dragging her down, within herself. She fought the fire and her own self, trying to remember herself in the process, and, in the briefest of moments, she forgot, so she lashed out, her heart stuttering painfully when the fire became more than just a formless mass, but grabbed onto her wrists and pinning them over her head, causing her to scream and thrash against her restraints, only to feel the fear expand exponentially when she couldn’t move at all. Once again she screamed, half because of fear and half just to release some of the emotions. This time, however, she heard an answer. This time she heard it, someone was calling her, but was it her? Was that her name? Or was it something that someone had decided to name her?

She heard it again, “Rachel!” The name was enough to pull her away from everything that she was fighting, the name pulling her to the surface and forcing her into consciousness. Her eyes finally opened and the first thing she saw was a set of clear blue eyes.

“Steve?” she asked hoarsely as she felt him relax and release her wrists from his tight grasp.

“What the hell-” Steve started to ask, only to be cut off by Rachel wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down in a tight embrace.

“Rachel,” he asked after a moment, “What the hell were you dreaming about?” he asked as he pulled away to look at her.

Rachel shook her head as tears streamed down her face. Steve sighed and shifted so that he was sitting beside her rather than straddling her, which was the wrong thing to do, in Rachel’s opinion. Rachel quickly sat up and moved so that she was straddling him and kissed him deeply. It took a moment before Steve could move away and groan her name.

Rachel leaned back towards Steve and kissed him harder and more desperately, causing Steve to realise that she wasn’t just trying to avoid the topic, she needed not to think about it at the moment. With that revelation, Steve’s hands went to grip Rachel’s hips and pull her closer to him, groaning as she ground her hips against his and making him impatient. Steve’s hands went to the hem of her sweat dampened shirt, peeling it off of her, causing her to shiver when her skin was met with the cool air.

Steve’s hands quickly traveled to Rachel’s breasts, massaging them roughly and causing her to throw her head back and moan. He chuckled then kissed her exposed throat, before kissing his way down to one of her breasts, nipping her sensitive skin lightly. One of Rachel’s hands tangled itself in Steve’s short hair while the other rested on his shoulder.

Rachel moaned his name and swayed under his quick ministrations, causing Steve to bring one hand to her hip to steady her.

“Stop fucking teasing me,” Rachel commanded hoarsely as Steve sucked lightly on her throat, his response was to chuckle at her expense.

“Patience is a virtue you should learn,” he teased, causing Rachel to tighten her grip on his hair as he leaned in to kiss her.

Suddenly Steve felt his thoughts start to swim and realised that it was Rachel’s doing. Steve was generally impervious to Rachel’s mind controlling abilities, the only exception being during sex, which was the only time that Rachel’s emotions would go completely unchecked, but even then, she couldn’t actually make Steve do anything, not that she had ever been focused enough to try. 

“Rachel,” he chastised, pushing through the swimming thoughts and reaching for her hands, pulling them away.

Once she realised why, Rachel quickly removed her hands from Steve. “Fuck,” she said, “Sorry, I didn’t- Ah!” Rachel didn’t get to finish her apology as Steve wrapped his arms around her and flipped her over so that she was on her back and he was straddling her.

“It’s fine,” Steve assured her.

“Only because you did that,” she groaned. 

Steve smirked at her, “Now we’re even,” he said before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers while lightly running one hand up her side, prompting her to say, “If you don’t stop teasing me, I’m going to do this by myself and make you watch.”

“That’s an empty threat if I ever heard one,” Steve returned, leaning in and kissing Rachel’s jaw.

“Steve,” she whined, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, “Why are you still dressed?”

“Could you act more immature?” Steve laughed as he sat up and yanked his shirt off.

“Pants too,” Rachel said before Steve could do anything else. He chuckled before he yanked off his pants and boxers, and, feeling as though he had sufficiently distracted Rachel from her nightmare, then leaned back down to her, kissing and caressing his way down her body. When he made it to the hemline of her shorts, Steve grabbed the waistband and all but yanked them, along with Rachel’s boy shorts, off.

“Now who’s impatient?”

“Still you,” Steve murmured against her skin, just before he kissed just below her navel and continued downward. He slowed his movements the closer that he got to her womanhood, causing Rachel to groan and attempt to buck her hips, only succeeding in causing Steve to laugh and hold her hips.

“I’m going to kill you,” Rachel huffed.

“I’m sure you’ll try.”

“I hate you.”

Steve moved back up so that he was lying next to Rachel, a move that caused her to glare at him. He pouted and asked, “Really?”

“No,” Rachel said eventually, causing Steve to smile and kiss her once, softly on the lips, before moving downwards once again. This time, Steve wasted no time, reaching her womanhood and licking one long stripe up her labia, stopping at her clit, where he licked circles around it.

“Fuck,” Rachel sighed as her shoulders relaxed.

Steve then moved back down and teased her opening with his tongue before dipping it into her, smiling when he felt her thighs flex on either side of his head. He moved back up to circle her clit with his tongue once again while slipping a finger inside of her, causing Rachel to gasp, then moan in pleasure. Rachel ran her fingers through his short blond hair in an attempt to make him stay where he was until she had come. Sensing her impending orgasm, Steve started to slow down, driving Rachel insane and making her yank on his hair.

“Steve,” Rachel whined.

“Yes dear?” he asked after he stopped, smiling at the almost-glare she gave him.

“Come here,” she attempted to command him.

“Of course,” Steve simpered, crawling back up and letting Rachel pull him down and kiss him hard while he settled between her thighs.

“You’re such a fucking tease,” Rachel said once they broke apart.

“Well sweetheart,” Steve started, “So are you.”

“Shut up and fuck me.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” Steve laughed, kissing Rachel softly before slowly entering her, “But I will make love to you.”

Rachel moaned and wrapped her legs around Steve, encouraging him to move, before she spoke, “Sentimental fuck.”

“And I love you too,” Steve smirked before moving within her.

Rachel met every one of his thrusts with one of her own. Steve kissed her, nipping her bottom lip before sliding his tongue into her mouth. Together, they moved in synchronization, towards a single goal, all other things forgotten. Eventually, he reached down and rubbed Rachel’s clit, eliciting another moan from her as they began to move faster together.

“Steve,” Rachel barely managed to say before her orgasm hit her hard, causing her to rake her nails across his shoulders, though not leaving a mark. Steve came shortly after Rachel, kissing her as he did. Rachel let her legs drop to either side of Steve before he pulled out and settled himself beside her, facing Rachel.

“It kills me,” Rachel said, breathing hard, “That you’re never out of breath.”

Steve only chuckled before quickly kissing her on the forehead. He then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter of the pair as promised.  
> Thank you for reading and see you next time.  
> ~Jade.


	7. Chapter 7

"Back off!" A woman yelled, trying to shove off a muscular man with dirty blonde hair. Though he was in his mid-twenties, he still had his high school football player physique, and he was using that to his advantage as he attempted to slide his hand up the unwilling woman's skirt.

"Baby, you know you want me," the man slurred, attempting seduction and pressing her into the wall with his body.

"Get off!" She shrieked struggling with him.

"Hey!" Another man said, pulling the first man off, "She said no!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," the first man bellowed.

"Hey man," an even taller man, dressed in all black, said, coming up from behind, "I think it's time you leave."

"What the fuck ever," the first man grunted drunkenly as he headed towards the exit, "It's not like I can't find better pussy somewhere else."

Raina smiled from her spot in the shadows as she watched the familiar young man walk out of the bar and into the darkened alleyway. As he began to walk drunkenly away, Raina followed him close behind.

"Who's there!?" He slurred out when he heard footsteps from behind him.

The man turned and scanned the alley behind him, but saw no one. Thinking it was just a cat, he started walking again. Raina smiled as she used her wind to cause several nearby papers to fly towards him, scaring him. The man glanced behind him once again. As he glimpsed sight of Raina's shadow, he became frightened and started to run. Raina smiled as she followed slowly behind him.

The man stumbled around for another few minutes before he finally reached a dead end. With his back to the wall, the man searched the shadows in front of him for whoever was following him. "Who the fuck is there?!" He yelled out, still obviously drunk.

"You have caused us much pain." Raina spoke calmly from the shadows.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" The man was more than terrified now.

Raina slowly stepped out of the shadows and towards the young man. She wore knee-high black boots over a fiery red pair of pants. Raina also wore a black and red open, trench coat over a red belly shirt. Her eyes were no longer just a stormy gray, but also included hints of red within them.

"It's nice to see you again," Raina said sarcastically, her lips twisting into an eerie smirk.

"I've never seen you in my life!"

"Not in this world maybe, but in another you relentlessly tormented my late best-friend. Now, I am here to rid the world of your filth." Raina began to walk towards him, raising her hand upwards, pointing at his face.

"What are you doing?! Stay away from me! Get away!" The man found himself being lifted upwards by a cyclone of wind. The air from his lungs began to rush out of his body. Raina started laughing, but not her usual bubbly, mischievous laugh; it was a darker, more evil filled laughter. Opening her coat, Raina let fly several small throwing knives that rested within the inside of her coat. The knives flew around Josh's body, cutting through his skin in various places.

"Having fun yet?" Raina asked rhetorically, smiling maniacally, "No? Well, you will be."

Using her newly gifted powers, Raina set the cyclone on fire, engulfing the man's body. It took only a few more seconds before Raina sensed there was no more air left in the man's lungs. Raina smirked as she let his marred, mutilated, lifeless corpse fall to the ground. She began to walk away when her head began to swim. Raina knelt down on the ground, bracing herself on the nearby wall. She groaned as she placed a hand against her head.

"It had to be done master...yes I will...I apologize for the slight detour...It shall be done I assure you...No my lord, I feel nothing for any of them..." Raina muttered as she let her hand fall to her side and stood up. "I live to serve you and you only my lord." In a flash of fire, Raina was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

Steve had his arms wrapped around Rachel by the time their alarm went off the next morning. He reached over and turned it off before snuggling back into the covers.

“I thought that you had super-secret superhero stuff to do,” Rachel groaned.

“Not today,” Steve yawned, pulling her closer and saying, “You know, you’re sounding more like Tony as the days go by.”

“Oh no,” Rachel said in mock horror.

“He’s not having you do anything today, is he?”

Rachel turned her head and smiled up at Steve, “Nope, but if he did, I’m sure I could find myself otherwise preoccupied.”

“Good,” Steve said, “Because we need to talk.”

Rachel turned away, sighed and shifted uncomfortably in Steve’s arms, “Can’t you just forget about it?”

“Rachel, I had to pin you down to keep you from hurting yourself,” he responded seriously, “It’s not something I’ll forget. Plus, I don’t forget anything, remember?”

Rachel sighed once again, “It was just a dream.”

“It was a nightmare, Rae, and a pretty terrifying one at that. What was it about?”

Rachel shook her head, “I don’t know, but it felt like I was drowning. Like I was being swallowed up by fire, but like I was trying to swim to the surface and get away from it all.”

Though she couldn’t see it, Steve frowned before he spoke, “You woke me up when you started mumbling about being alone and no one really caring about you.”

Rachel turned to face Steve, “That actually sounds more like Raina than me.”

“That’s not as comforting as you think.”

“Well,” Rachel started, “I wasn’t actually trying to comfort you with it.”

Steve’s reply was cut short by Rachel’s stomach suddenly growling. Rachel grinned at him sheepishly, “Pancakes?”

“Sure,” Steve chuckled.

Rachel sat up, “You shower and I start on breakfast, then we switch?”

Steve cocked his head to the side, “I guess, if that’s what you want.”

Rachel laughed, “That way we both get clean and don’t have to wait for foods.”

Steve then laughed, “Alright, we’ll time save.”

“Good,” Rachel said as she got up

“You know,” Steve started conversationally, “I think it’s a crime that you wear clothes.”

Rachel laughed before throwing on a short dress and picking up her cell phone, “You can work on that being a law, then we’ll talk.”

“I can do it you know,” Steve joked as Rachel walked towards the door.

“I actually believe that you can,” Rachel said as she left the room, “But you won’t.”

By the time that Rachel had gotten out of the shower, dried off and put on a different set of pajamas, Steve had finished making the pancakes and was just plating the eggs.

“Damn, you work fast,” Rachel joked as she entered the kitchen.

“Can’t let a dame as beautiful as you go hungry,” Steve smiled, looking up at her.

“You know I love it when you call me ‘dame,’” Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Steve’s waist.

“And that’s why I do it,” Steve said as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before wrapping his arms around her. The moment was however cut short by Rachel’s phone ringing. Rachel sighed before turning around and reaching over to answer it without looking at the caller I.D.

“Hello?”

“Are you busy? Can you come and take care of Pepper?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Tony, she’s your girlfriend. Why don’t you take care of her, and how do you expect me to take care of her?”

“I don’t deal with sick people and she’s very sick. She’s so sick that she took a sick day. She’s never taken a sick day before.”

“But you should still do it.”

“I can’t deal with sick people,” Tony repeated sincerely, “But I want to make sure she’s okay. Please Rae?”

“Ugh, fine. We’ll be there in a couple of hours,” Rachel grumbled, causing Steve to chuckle.

“Can’t you get here sooner?”

“Nope.”

“Fine,” Tony grumbled.

“That’s what I thought,” Rachel giggled.

“Just hurry,” Tony said.

“We’ll be over as quick as we can,” Rachel assured him.

“Good,” Tony said before hanging up.

“You’d think it would kill him to say ‘thank you’ once in a while.”

“That’s just Tony.”

“Yeah I know.”

“Alright,” Steve started, “Definitely time to eat now.”

“Yep,” Rachel responded before picking up the two plates.


	9. Chapter 9

When Pepper woke up, she had a fever, stuffy nose, splitting headache and her entire body felt sore, realising that she had the flu, badly, she decided to, for the first time in years, take a sick day. She had gone through the necessary steps to see that everything would continue without her and taken medication to help her sleep. Once he found out, Tony had crassly said that she should stay away from him if she was actually using a sick day but had gotten her some tea before walking away to his lab. Pepper hadn't been able to sleep all that well, and, after a couple hours of lying around, she had finally pulled herself out of bed and into the kitchen for some apple cider for comfort in the early afternoon hours. Pepper had gotten the water started boiling and found her favourite mug to put it in when she heard someone behind her.

When she turned around, she was surprised to see a six foot god standing in her kitchen. Pepper half-gasped, half-screamed and dropped her mug, which Loki caught. As he straightened up in front of her, Pepper's eyes widened at his closeness and she leaned backwards into the counter. Loki held out the mug to her, "Where is Rachel?" he asked softly but urgently.

"What do you want her for?" Pepper asked, taking the mug out of habit, rather than consciously.

"I need her," Loki answered quickly, clearly unwilling to explain himself.

"And I need to know why you need her, I can call her and have her come over-" Pepper started, not willing to give Rachel's location to Loki. Pepper still didn't trust Loki and she didn't have time to find out if Steve was with Rae.

"My method would be quicker," Loki interrupted smoothly, "If you would just tell me where she is."

"Pepper are you- What are you doing here Loki?"

"Where is Rachel?" Loki asked Tony more urgently. Pepper realised then that he had been reserved when he had been speaking to her because his voice took on a harsher tone when he addressed Tony.

"Loki," Tony started, brows furrowing, "What's going-"

"Where is Rachel?" he demanded angrily, his voice becoming louder. Tony looked at Loki for a second before finally telling him the address of Rachel and Steve's apartment. As soon as he had gone, Pepper looked at Tony, "Are you sure you should have told him?"

"He's not going to hurt Rae; she's the best friend of the love of his life."

"I didn't think he was going to hurt her Tony, but what the hell was that all about? I mean, he just turns up out of the blue looking for Rachel? And without Raina?"

Tony looked at Pepper, "Get some rest; as soon as I find out, I'll let you know, okay?"

Pepper nodded and sighed, rubbing her head. Tony stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulder, "It's probably nothing, Loki probably just needs Rachel to convince Odin not to kill Rain for a prank that she pulled."

"Oh," Pepper said, laughing, "As long as that's all."

Tony kissed her on the forehead, "It'll be fine," he assured her.

"Remind me again why didn't you just get dressed for the day after you took your shower?" Steve asked as he waited on Rachel to change into real clothes.

"Because I like pajamas," She answered simply as she threw her shirt over her head.

"As glad as I am that you like pajamas, do you really think that wearing them all the time is the best idea?"

Rachel walked up to Steve, "You mean in case I get kidnapped, you don't want someone to just be able to rip off my top and-"

"No," Steve cut across, blushing slightly, "I mean that we're always running around and it's better to have real clothes on."

"In case I get kidnapped."

"Please stop saying that."

"Fine," Rachel huffed playfully.

"Good," Steve said as he pulled her towards him, kissing her. Rachel wrapped her arms around Steve's neck, running one hand through his hair as he deepened the kiss.

"Wait," Rachel said, pulling away quickly, "Shit, we've got to go fix Pepper with soup."

Steve laughed, "Then we should leave now before I get some bad ideas."

"Why must you tease me so?" Rachel said as they stood up.

"Because you do the same thing to me every time I have to leave," Steve chuckled as he followed Rachel out of the bedroom.

"Not every time," Rachel argued as they walked into the living room. As she picked up her keys from the coffee table, Rachel suddenly turned to Steve, "Have you ever gotten the feeling that something bad is about to happen?"

"Yes," Steve started with confusion over Rachel's sudden change in topic, "But mostly in battle, why?"

"I've got that feeling right now. Actually, I've kinda had that feeling all day."

Steve regarded Rachel with concern until he noticed someone else in the room and, looking over Rachel's shoulder, he saw Loki, who had just appeared.

"I do now," Steve said, observing Loki's distraught face.

Rachel turned around and saw Loki, "Where's Rain?"

"She hasn't come to you?" Loki questioned, his eyes starting to glass over with fear and fatigue.

"No," Rachel said, her voice rising, "Why would she come here? Loki, why isn't she with you?"

"She was," Loki paused, searching for the right words, "Taken."

"Taken? By whom? How was she just taken from Asgard? It's full of gods!"

"Rachel, I am so-"

"Loki," Rachel interrupted, "How could she have been taken?"

"I am not sure. I have an idea, but I am not yet certain."

"Why are you here then? Why aren't you getting Rain back?"

"I know not where she is," Loki said, hanging his head.

"Are you kidding me? Please tell me that you're joking."

"I thought that she might come to see you. I do not know her exact mental state was when she was taken, but I do know that she was upset."

"Why?" Rachel growled.

"Fandral made an unsavory comment and it caused Rain to run off," Loki said, establishing to Rachel that he wasn't at fault and therefore did not need to be attacked.

"Okay, so, she doesn't know we're here," Rachel said looking over to Steve, "Maybe she's going to go to Stark Tower, I mean, that makes sense. It's the last place she knew where I was."

Loki nodded and took Rachel's arm in one hand and Steve's in the other, transporting them back to Stark Tower.


	10. Chapter 10

As soon as they were in Stark Tower, they heard Jarvis say “Welcome back Miss Flyte and Captain Rogers.”

“Jarvis, where are Pepper and Tony and can you find Raina Fox?”

“Pepper is in her bedroom and Tony is in the lab, shall I alert them to your presence?”

“Yes please,” Rachel said as she walked out of the kitchen, “Tell them I’m in the living room and please start a search for Raina Fox.”

“Yes Miss Flyte.”

Rachel walked into the living room where there was a wall that became a TV, or multiple ones, where they could see anything that Jarvis found.

“What happened?” Pepper said as she walked into the room after having gotten dressed quickly.

“Tony wasn’t kidding, you look awful Pepper,” Rachel said, walking up to her and putting her wrist on Pepper’s head.

“Where’s Raina?”

“Missing,” Rachel replied, taking her wrist off of Pepper’s forehead and looking over to Tony, “I’m having Jarvis run a search for her right now.” 

Rachel looked back at Pepper, “You’ve got a fever and should probably go back to bed.”

“How did you lose her?” Tony asked, looking at Loki.

“She was stolen, apparently.”

“I can’t believe you’d let her out of your sight. I thought you’d be the possessive type and not even let her brush her teeth without your permission.”

“Thought a lot about that, have you?” Pepper asked sarcastically, “I’m fine. We need to find Raina first.”

“Why must we wait for a computer to do it for us?” Loki asked impatiently, “We could go out and-”

“Loki,” Rachel started, “Even if we already had the rest of the Avengers and Gwen, we couldn’t do it by ourselves. Jarvis can be everywhere and look for us. I promise that this actually quicker.”

Loki pursed his lips, but nodded and remained silent.

“Pepper, Rachel’s right, you should probably go back to-”

“I have found Miss Fox. She was in New York last night,” Jarvis said as he brought up the images on the screen, “I have footage of the victim before his untimely demise as well.” 

“What?” Rachel asked.

“What do you mean victim?” Pepper asked

“Just show us,” Tony said.

They watched a man drunkenly stumble out of a bar, Rachel gasping when she realised who it was. She knew that it wasn’t really him, just the Marvel Universe’s version of him. Rachel thought she knew what she was going to see before it happened; they had both shared their plans of killing him, though Rachel had never thought that it would happen.

Steve interlaced their fingers, wanting to comfort Rae, but still needing to see what was going to happen. The group watched everything, Raina toying with Josh, using her control over the air to frighten him. They all watched with shock as Raina suffocated and then stabbed him, Rachel feeling upset, but not feeling anything out of the ordinary until Rain set the cyclone that she had trapped Josh in on fire. 

Pepper turned her head while Rachel gasped and glanced over to Loki, “Since when could she do fire?”

“She can’t,” Loki said as he watched the screen with wide eyes.

“Oh my God,” Rachel said when she saw the damage that Raina had done to Josh’s body, then she watched with concern as Raina nearly collapsed and had a conversation with, seemingly, herself.

“Jarvis, is there audio?” Rachel, Steve and Tony asked simultaneously.

“No sir,” Jarvis said, answering only Tony, who had written it into the program for anything that he said to supersede everyone else’s words.

“Can you hack into the place where you got this from and destroy all of the evidence?” Rachel asked.

“Rachel,” Steve said, looking over to her, “You can’t just-”

“You know it wasn’t really her Steve!” Rachel yelled with a fear that wasn’t founded.

“I never said it was, but we can’t just-”

“Actually,” Tony said, “We probably should. Jarvis, delete it all, put a copy on my personal server,” Tony held up his hand to stop Rachel, who was looking angry and starting to levitate the couch, “So that we can show the rest of the Avengers.”

Rachel visibly calmed down, “Okay.”

“Rae,” Steve said, “The couch.” 

Rachel looked over and put the couch down, mumbling, “Sorry.”

“We must wait for them before we can go find her?” Loki asked.

“Well, we don’t exactly know where she currently is Loki,” Tony responded.

“Then have your machine find her!” Loki barked, losing all patience.

“Loki,” Steve said, “You can’t go off, we’re trying to help you, we all care about Rain,” Steve directed the last part at Rachel, who got the point and nodded, looking down at her feet.

“You say that with your lover standing next to you,” Loki argued snidely.

Rachel glared at Loki, but then said, “Wow, that sounds familiar,” as she thought of the time that Tony had said it to Steve and that Rain had said it to her.

Steve looked over to Rachel with a look that clearly said, “You’re not helping.”

Just then Tony’s phone began to ring. He looked down at it and then back up to Steve, “Calm her down, it’s Coulson and he’s probably right outside.”

“I am calm!” Rachel argued.

“I disagree,” Pepper said, her feet a couple of inches off of the ground.

“I’m sorry Pepper,” Rachel sighed.

“Yes Coulson?”

“I have found her,” Jarvis said, putting a live news feed up onto the screen.

“I see that you understand the situation,” Phil Coulson said as he walked into the living room, hanging up the phone.

“Fury wants you all, minus Pepper, in on this, since she’s your friend,” he said, looking at Rachel, then over to Loki as he said, “And your girlfriend.”

Rachel looked back at the screen, watching Raina’s actions with shock, hardly aware of agreeing, but knowing that she must if she was going to be able to get to Rain before someone tried to kill her to stop her.


	11. Chapter 11

The group was led to the roof of Stark Tower where they were escorted into the waiting aircraft. Pepper had fought against both Coulson and Tony so that she could come with them, telling them that she'd be fine in the Helicarrier, but she wasn't just going to stay home while her friend was clearly in trouble, though none of them were really sure how much trouble Raina was going to be in.

As they sat in the helicopter, they were generally silent, Rachel thinking of how she was going to Rain out of trouble, Pepper rethinking her decision to go with them and Tony and Steve desperately hoping that Rachel would stay calm enough while she was under the watchful eye of S.H.I.E.L.D. When they got to the Helicarrier, Steve and Rachel peeled off so that he could change into his suit and get his shield and Rachel could borrow, without permission, a S.H.E.I.L.D. suit. When they got to the main flight deck they saw that Bruce, Gwen, Natasha and Clint, as well as Tony, were already there, suited up and inside of a Quinjet, and currently watching Raina on a screen with disbelief and shock in their eyes.

The skies were dark as lightning shot downwards, hitting various building tops. There was a series of twisters, varying in size and shape, twisting their way through the skyline, leaving rubble and destruction in their wake. Next to the lightning, an occasional fireball would fall from the dark clouds and strike a building or car, causing large explosions here and there.

"Oh my god…" Gwen gasped as she stared on in disbelief.

"They sure don't call it the 'Windy City' for nothing." Clint commented dryly.

"That's not Rain." Rachel stated. "She would never do anything like that."

"Rain or no, we still have to stop her." Steve announced as he gave Rachel a stern look. Rachel nodded in confirmation, knowing that they had to stop Raina; Rae had just decided to do it without having to kill Rain.

"She has to be stopped at all costs." Fury ordered as he walked up to the group. "Even if that mean you have to kill her."

"Excuse me?! No one is going to kill Rain!" Rachel shouted at the man, feeling intense rage as she turned to face him.

"Rachel, you need to calm down." Steve placed a hand onto her shoulder. Rachel brushed it off, feeling her stomach knot as she did so.

"No, I will not calm down! He can't stand there and tell me to kill my best friend, my sister, just like that!" Rachel was now standing just in front of Fury, directly challenging him.

"You are not going to do anything, the Avengers are. You are a civilian who should not even be here. And you," Fury turned towards Loki, "I really don't think you should be here either, seeing as how you are still considered a war criminal."

"Loki is here for Rain, we all are. And civilian or not, I am going to help save my best friend."

"I'm starting to think that you aren't such a civilian in the first place." Fury was refusing to back down.

"Rae, look around you." Steve told her as he placed a hand back onto her shoulder. Rachel looked away from Fury to look around the deck of the Helicarrier; various agents and other aircrafts where levitating mere feet off of the deck; Fury was getting in calls through his earpiece that all around the Helicarrier various items and agents were also being levitated in the air as well as the fact that the Helicarrier was no longer being held up in the air by the engines.

"I- sorry." Rachel said defeated, as the rage disappeared. She looked away and down to the floor.

"Don't mean to interrupt but we kind of have another city to keep from being destroyed, how about we talk about this after Chicago is saved?" Tony interrupted as he stepped between the two, pushing Rachel backwards, into Steve's arms. Fury still was not satisfied, but decided that it was for the best that they stop the mayhem and discuss the 'situation' later.

"I don't care how it's done, just do it." Fury finally said before walking out of the jet.

"Rachel-" Gwen started.

"I know I know, I need to keep it under control." Rachel walked away from the group and sat herself down. "Well are we leaving or not?" She asked over at Clint and Natasha. Silently, the two agents turned and went to the pilot's seats, starting up the jet.

"Everybody buckle up." Clint broke the awkward feeling in the air. Without another word, they all took their seats.

"You okay?" Steve whispered to Rachel a few minutes later, after they had taken off.

"No, my best friend is destroying a city and we have to find a way to stop her without…" Rachel could not bring herself to finish the sentence as she started to tear up.

"Don't worry Rae, we'll figure something out, we always do." Steve placed a hand onto her leg, giving it a slight squeeze.

"Thanks Steve." Rachel managed a weak smile as she looked into his eyes.

"Rachel," Tony started, "We've worked for months so that they wouldn't know what you or Gwen could do."

"Tony," Steve interrupted, "This isn't really the time."

"No Steve, it's the perfect time. All of our hard work has gone down the drain just because she couldn't keep her emotions under control!"

"Tony," Bruce coaxingly started, "Rain's Rae's best friend. Can you even imagine being in her position and not yelling when someone mentions murdering your best friend."

"No I can't," Tony admitted, "But it doesn't mean that I'm going to lift everyone on board a Helicarrier and the aircrafts that are on it."

"She stalled the engines on the Helicarrier and lifted it a couple hundred feet too," Clint informed them.

"Seriously?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," Natasha responded shortly.

"Okay," Bruce said, looking at Rae, "You do kinda need to get a lid on it."

"I know," Rachel responded dropping her head down and causing Steve to put his hand on her knee.

"We'll work on it later, right now we just work on finding out what's going on with Rain."

"What is going on with Rain?" Natasha said from the front of the plane, "I know she's not evil, so why is she doing this?"

"Nat's right, it doesn't make sense."

"I think she's been put under mind control like Loki was," Rachel said.

"When was Loki was put under mind control?"

"When he attacked New York," Rachel explained.

"How did you know?" Loki asked.

"How do you think?"

Despite his best efforts, Loki found himself smiling and mumbling, "Of course."

"If that's true, I'd like to say that I'm half sorry we all tried to kill you," Tony said sarcastically, earning a disapproving look from Rachel.

"It is true; Thanos put Loki under mind control using the tesseract and the scepter that he gave Loki."

"But how-"

"Oh my God, we come from a reality where you are all comic book characters; of course we already know this shit," Rachel said with exasperation.

"Oh yeah," Tony said, "I forgot about that."


	12. Chapter 12

They spent much of the short journey in silence; usually Steve would be talking battle plans, but seeing as the end goal was to stop Rain, he knew that it would be at any means necessary and couldn’t bring himself to say it in front of Rachel, knowing that she would only think that he meant by death. When they reached Chicago, Natasha and Clint got the first bird’s eye view of Raina’s destruction. All of the buildings surrounding Willis Tower were damaged. None of them had intact windows anymore; they had all been blown out by Raina. Some of them had been caught in the blast of one of her fire laden cyclones.

Clint, who was no stranger to destruction, found himself gaping at the buildings, some of which were twisted with the heat from Raina’s cyclones. As he flew the Quinjet closer to the building, Raina quickly noticed, sending a wind powered fireball towards it, forcing Clint to violently swerve the Quinjet to avoid it getting hit.

“I thought you knew how to fly one of these things!” Gwen shouted at Clint after she fell into the floor.

“I do and it’s why you’re still alive,” he countered angrily.

“We need a distraction,” Steve said, looking pointedly at Tony, who nodded, moving to the back of the jet and jumping out.

Clint watched as Tony and Thor, who had suddenly shown up, forced Raina to look the other way, giving Clint enough time to land the jet behind her. As they ran out of the jet, the group was knocked down by a sudden burst of wind; Raina had turned and noticed them.

“Hey short stuff, that the best you got?” Tony shouted at Raina trying to get her attention once again.

“How dare you mock me?! I’m more powerful than all of you combined!” Raina growled, summoning a seven foot tall twister and sending it towards Tony. 

“Shit!” Tony flew to the side, barely dodging it and almost getting pulled into it. Raina smiled as she watched all the chaos she was causing.

“Rain! Stop this! Look at all the damage you’re causing, all the lives you’re putting at risk!” Natasha attempted to jar her out of the mind control.

“Besides, you’re surrounded. You can’t take us all on at once.” Clint gloated. Raina glanced around. It was true, she was surrounded. The whole of the Avengers, including a hulked-out Bruce, Rachel, Gwen, and Loki stood all around her in a circle, ready to attack at any moment.

“Come on kid, come back to us! This is not you!” Rachel attempted next. Raina merely glared at Rachel before turning her attention to Loki as he spoke up next.

“Rain, please.” Loki begged. Their eyes locked and Loki watched in high hopes as Raina’s eyes turned back to a pure stormy-gray colour for a few seconds before returning to the corrupted red-gray mix that was filled with anger.

“Liar, all of you are liars!” Raina screamed as she gritted her teeth. “You merely stand there and pretend to know me with your faux smiles. None of you have any idea who I truly am.” The Avengers readied themselves as Raina raised her arms to prepare another attack. Her trench coat was suddenly blown open by all the wind, Raina reached inside and pulled out some of her knives. “Let’s see how good you are at playing catch.” She wore a twisted evil smirk on her face as she threw nearly two dozen to the group that surrounded her. Clint and Natasha easily dodged some, while Steve raised his shield to cover Rachel and himself. Hulk let out a roar as some of the knives flew past him, cutting him as he stood in front of Gwen as a shield. Thor and Loki attempted to dodge but were barely grazed as the knives flew past them. Tony grunted in pain as he pulled out a knife that got lodged in his shoulder plate.

Raina attempted to attack them with more knives, but to no avail. Rachel used her powers to stop the knives from advancing on them.

“Rain stop this now!” Rachel shouted.

Raina tried pushing the knives forward, aiming all of them towards Rachel.  
“Stop pretending to care!”

Rachel held her ground and pushed the knives further back.

“I’m not pretending! If I didn’t care, I’d just let them kill you now!” Rachel screamed, not noticing the glare she was getting from Loki and the betrayed faces of the Avengers and Gwen.

“Stop lying!” Raina screamed, stepping forward, putting more effort into pushing the knives at Rachel and forcing Rae to take a step back, “All you ever said was that I was a burden to you! I was the child and I made you grow up and I couldn’t take care of myself and you didn’t need kids because you’d always be taking care of me! You said that!”

“Loki, Thor, Tony, can you subdue her?” Steve asked trying to quickly think up a strategy as he watched the knives get closer to Rachel, fearing for her safety, but unable to do anything other than watch. He was afraid that, because of her desire to save Rain and not hurt her in the process, Rachel was going to be the one to get hurt. Any response that the group could have come up with was cut off by Rachel screaming back at Raina.

“I only said those things when you had pushed me to the breaking point!” Rachel screamed, her anger bubbling over, “If I didn’t care, I would’ve thrown you out the first time that you moved all of the furniture in our house two inches to the left!” Rachel regained the ground that she had lost and then took control of the knives as Rain’s eyes changed back to their normal colour for a moment. Rachel sent the knives flying into a nearby building, her anger causing them to be lodged to the hilt. As soon as they were out of the vicinity, Rachel felt all of her anger dissipate. 

“Rae,” Raina sobbed, dropping to her knees.

Rachel started to run to Rain, but stopped when she saw Raina’s eyes cloud over again, the red overpowering any other colour that existed in Raina’s irises.

“Stop. Lying. To. Me!” Raina screamed with a new-found hatred. She raised her hands, but paused as green smoke appeared next to her and quickly formed into the shape of a person. 

“I’m in the middle of something Amora, how dare you interrupt me!”

“In the middle of playing with your toys? The master has much bigger plans.” Amora smoothly responded. Raina let out a low growl, but lowered her hands; the weather almost immediately cleared up.

“Fine.” She muttered.

“Rain no!” Loki shouted, but to no avail as the Enchantress teleported both Raina and herself away. His hands balled into fists as they began to glow a dark-green. “I won't allow Amora to take Rain from me!” Loki raised a hand to the level of his head as he began to teleport himself away. Rachel stepped towards him and grabbed him.

“There's no way you're going without me!”

The pair of them disappeared, leaving the Avengers and Gwen standing of the roof of Willis tower.

“Great, how are we supposed to follow now?” Tony yelled in frustration.

“Curse your impatience Loki,” Thor said, more to himself.

“Can't you follow them?” Gwen asked Thor quickly.

Thor looked over to Gwen and nodded slowly, “But it will not be with the precision and smoothness that Loki possesses.”

“Then let's stop talking and go,” Steve urged, nodding to Thor. The group inched in closer to Thor, who in turn began to swing his hammer around in his hand. A dark cloud began to form over the top of the tower, the air getting thick and smelling heavily of ozone. Suddenly, a large bolt of lightning struck the top of the building right where the group stood. After the flash of the lightning disappeared, the rooftop was void of people.


	13. Chapter 13

“Holy fuck, this place is like Mordor!” Rachel screamed as soon as she and Loki appeared in Muspelheim.

“What a charming vocabulary you have,” Loki said sarcastically as he started walking.

“I can't help it! This place is covered in fire! What did you expect my reaction to be?”

“I expected you to immediately start to look for Raina!” Loki responded angrily, “I didn't bring you along so that you could sight-see.”

“You didn't bring me along!” Rachel countered as she followed Loki, “I grabbed you!”

“If I hadn't desired you to come, then you wouldn't have been able to touch me in the first place!”

“Why do you have to be such an ass?”

“I am not being an ass Rachel; I am trying to find Raina!”

“Then why would you stoop so low as to bring me?”

“Because she is more likely to listen to you!” Loki screamed as he turned around, his face mere inches from Rachel's causing her to take a step back as she realised Loki’s pain. Rachel's mouth dropped open to respond when she suddenly got a searing pain in her head. Rachel grabbed her head and swayed on the spot, causing Loki to grab her upper arm to keep her vertical.

“What ails you?”

“It hurts,” Rachel whimpered, rubbing her head. Loki lightly touched Rachel's head with his other hand, yanking it away quickly when he felt Raina through Rachel's mind. Rachel looked at him in confusion while Loki looked at her in shock.

“What?”

“You...”

“Loki what?”

“And Rain.”

“Tell me!”

“The pair of you have a psychic connection.”

“What does that mean?”

“You can find her.”

Rachel looked at Loki with excitement, “Wait, how?”

“Close your eyes and feel her.”

“Feel her? You know she'd make a joke about that, right?”

Loki rolled his eyes, “Why must you jest at a time like this?”

“Raina would.”

“Just close your eyes and try to find her!” Loki snapped.

Rachel went through the trouble of rolling her eyes before closing them. Within herself, Rachel felt anger and confusion, but, for the first time, she realised that it felt foreign; it was not exactly like when she felt angry and confused. She could hear a stream of jumbled words in a voice that sounded like Raina.

“Alone. I have no one. There is no one. I am alone. Alone. Why won't anyone help me?” Her voice kept going on, repeating the words like a mantra. Rachel opened her eyes and felt herself being pulled by a seemingly invisible force.

“Raina.” Rachel whispered as she turned and began running towards the force, leaving Loki standing behind her.

“Rachel! You cannot face them alone.” Loki stated as he rushed to catch up with the woman.

“Then you better hurry your ass up.” Rachel snapped back. Loki opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted as a flash of lightning struck the ground just behind them.

Loki and Rachel turned around to see the Avengers and Gwen standing behind them. 

“How did you guys follow us?” Rachel asked.

“Thor,” Clint responded shortly.

“No thanks to you,” Tony snidely retorted.

“We did not require your help,” Loki responded. 

“Yeah and how were you planning on taking them on by yourselves?” Natasha asked sarcastically.

“How were you even going to find them?” Gwen asked.

Loki glanced to Rae before saying, “Rachel was going to take care of that.”

“What do you mean?” Steve questioned.

“We have not the time to explain, we must get to Rain.” Loki exasperated, motioning in the direction Rachel had previously attempted to walk to. The group still seemed a bit dissatisfied.

“Alright, enough talk then, let's go get Raina back.” Steve finally ordered the group. No one else said a word as they quickly made their way to save Raina from Amora, and herself. Rachel and Loki led the group past fiery lakes, over red hills and through a mountain pass before they happened upon a cliff edge where Amora and Raina stood at the edge facing a massive red form. It was standing in the chasm, only visible from the chest up.

“No…” Loki gasped in horror.

“That is impossible!” Thor exclaimed, “That demon should be locked up!”

“Wait, who’s that supposed to be?” Clint asked as he and the rest of the group stared on slightly confused. 

“Surtur, a demon of great power.” Thor further explained.

“He’s supposed to be imprisoned.” Loki stated grimly. 

As the group stood in contemplation, Raina and Amora turned to face them. “Well well, it seems that we have some little lost puppies,” Raina laughed as she ginned evilly down at them, “What shall I do with them Master?” Raina turned her head to glance back at the large demon.

“Deal with them, swiftly. Leave none alive,” Surtur’s deep voice rumbled through the air.

“Gladly,” Amora smoothly replied, taking an offensive stance. Loki growled and mirrored her stance. Amora ran at Loki while Raina created a fire tornado and aimed it at Rachel. Amora threw a large green fireball at Loki, who countered with a blast of ice, causing steam. Rachel used her telekinesis to make an invisible wall, stopping the tornado until Loki could dispel it with another blast of ice. Raina shot a glare at Loki before creating three tornados simultaneously and adding knives to one, which went towards the Avengers and Gwen while adding fire to the other two and sending those towards Rachel and Loki.

Loki and Rachel stopped the fire tornados once again while the Avengers dodged knives.

“Rachel! Look out!” Gwen yelled out a little too late. Rachel turned and got a knife lodged in her side.

“Fuck!” Rachel screamed as the blade sliced her skin. Raina grinned maliciously when she saw the blood oozing down Rachel’s side.

“Now you can know a small portion of my pain!” Raina laughed sadistically.

“Oh my God, shut up,” Rachel said as she pulled the knife out of her side, wincing as she did so, “You sound like Loki.”

Loki, who had just prevented Amora from killing Clint, looked over at Rachel and Raina, “Really? That is your perception of me?”

“Are you guys seriously bantering while fighting?” Gwen asked incredulously.

“They always do that,” Tony said, rolling his eyes.

Just then, Raina threw a dagger at Tony, silencing him. Steve jumped in front of him and blocked Raina’s dagger. An idea suddenly hit Raina as her eyes widened and her smile contorted into a wicked grin. She hastily summoned up a micro-burst that knocked down both Rachel and Loki, knocking them to the side and out of her way as she slowly turned and began to walk towards Steve with a deliberate slowness. As Rachel forced herself up against the winds, she noticed Raina’s destination.


	14. Chapter 14

“Rain! Stop this now!” Loki attempted as he too noticed Raina’s intentions. Loki turned to intervene when Amora appeared in front of him and threw him backwards. As Loki looked up at her, she smiled and said, “This is no matter of yours,” as she advanced towards him with a green fireball growing in her hands.

“Let’s see how you are after the love of your life is taken from you,” Raina spoke darkly.

As Raina made her way towards Steve, the Avengers and Gwen found themselves being forced away from him by shadow beings that Amora had conjured for that exact purpose. The Hulk quickly threw the creatures off, causing Amora to conjure twice as many, just to pin him down. With every step that Raina took towards Steve, Rachel worked harder to get out from under the miniature cyclone that Raina had pinned her under.

“Raina, stop, you cannot do this!” Thor thundered at her.

“I dare you to try and stop me!” Her saunter turned into a sprint as a metal staff magically appeared in her hands with Amora’s aid; Raina used her gifted fire abilities to melt down one end, turning it into a pike.

“Steve!” Rachel screamed. Natasha heard her friend’s scream and, with Clint, tried to fight her way over to Steve, allowing herself to get hit with a few blows from the creatures. Tony blasted at them until they had practically covered him in his attempts to break away to get to aid Steve.

Several knives were sent Steve’s way as he raised his shield to block it. The knives clanked as they hit the metal and fell to the ground. Rain immediately followed with a cyclone to force Steve’s shield out of his grasp; it landed mere feet away. Raina used her wind to send the recently discarded knives flying through the air once again towards Steve.

“Rain, please stop this!” Steve attempted to reason with Raina as he made a move to grab her wrists.

“I don’t associate with you people anymore,” Raina muttered darkly. The knives shot towards Steve, the force of them, combined with the wind that Rain created knocking him heavily back to a boulder just behind him. Steve tried to move, but found himself stuck to the rock by the knives; some blood had begun to ooze from the cuts that the knives had made when they sliced through his suit. He quickly tried to pull the knives out but was stopped as two more knives flew through the air, going straight through his palms and pinning his hands to the rock. Raina laughed as Steve shouted in pain.

Raina stopped just in front of him, the churning up all around them; Steve suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“Rain, don’t!” Rachel attempted again, her words going unheard.

Rain slowly raised the pike high into the air, “My heart was once broken, let’s see how you like it now.” She whispered darkly, “Farewell.” In one motion, Raina plunged the pike, with the addition of Amora’s magic, straight into Steve’s chest, piercing his heart. Raina stared straight into Steve’s eyes as she watched the light leave them.

“Steve!” Rachel shrieked, causing her voice to go hoarse.

“Does it hurt?” Raina asked, her voice void of emotion, as she turned towards Rachel, who hadn’t taken her eyes off of Steve. Upon seeing her friend’s broken expression, Raina felt something break within herself and she swayed on the spot. Loki, who had just broken Amora’s arm, looked in time to see Rain and the damage that she had done to Rachel. He shoved Amora out of the way and ran in Rain’s direction, grabbing her roughly and spinning her around to face him. The sudden change caused the cyclone pinning Rachel down to dissipate.

“Rain, please,” Loki begged, shaking her slightly, “Look at what you’ve done.”

They were interrupted when Clint yelled Natasha’s name, helping her to avoid an attack just in time. Rachel, realising that the only way to help Natasha and the others was to go after Amora, tore her eyes away from Steve’s broken and bloody body and fixed them upon Amora as she rose from the ground. Amora smirked as she watched Rachel shakily pick herself up with her disheveled hair and tears still wet on her face.

“Oh, are you going to try to fight me now mortal?”

Loki heard Amora speak and he turned his head from Raina while keeping a tight grip on her arms. Loki’s eyes widened when he saw that Rachel was, in fact, being reckless enough to attempt to take on Amora.

“Rachel!” he yelled, “Don’t-” Loki was cut off by Raina, whose anger had mixed with anguish.

“Shut up!”

Loki looked at Raina with shock; she had never raised her voice to him like that before. 

“What did you say?”

“You’ll never understand how we feel!”

“Who is ‘we’?” Loki asked, chancing a glance back to Rachel, looking on in horror as she got thrown backwards. Instinctively, Loki looked for his brother, only to see that Thor was attempting to help Gwen be free of the creatures that Amora had changed to resemble tar and start sticking to everyone. He sought out Rachel once more and watched in defeat as she, stupidly, in his opinion, picked herself up from the ground and said “Is that all you’ve got? Believe me, I’ve had worse.”

Amora smirked at her, “Oh I’ve heard. Raina has told me so much about you. How you martyred yourself and kept her with you so that you wouldn’t be in exile alone. The abuse you took from your lover. All the tragic deaths that you lived through. And your brother,” Amora continued as she sauntered over to Rachel, “Your brother liked to choke you,” she said, placing her hand gently at Rachel’s neck, causing her to stiffen in fear.

“Did you know that it would take so little effort on my part to kill you in this way? The way you fear the most,” Amora taunted, tightening her grip on Rachel’s neck.

“Amora!” Loki yelled, though he knew it was useless, “Release her,” he growled as he watched with sympathy as Rachel’s hands flew to Amora’s wrist, trying to save herself.

“I will if you will,” Amora smiled at him. Loki, by that point was sure that the only thing that was keeping Raina from going off on a rampage was his hands on her; the physical connection was keeping her grounded to reality. Loki was stuck in an impasse, watching as Amora’s grip on Rachel’s neck slowly tightened, but unwilling to let Raina go without trying to break her free. Loki sent an apologetic glance to Rachel then turned back to Rain.

“Rain, you have fight it! I need you!” Loki watched with hope as Raina’s face changed to one of love. Loki released his grip from her arms and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her tightly, as if he was trying to transfer his feelings to her. He exhaled in relief when Rain wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder.

“Such a childish notion Loki,” Rain whispered softly in his ear, “That you believe that you alone are enough to sway me.” As she finished speaking, she slipped a knife from her sleeve and stabbed him in the back, missing his heart by inches. Loki gasped, more in shock than anything and pulled away to look at Rain, who had a tear streaming down her face.


	15. Chapter 15

“What was it that you said?” She asked, a twisted smile gracing her face. “Ah yes,” Raina laughed, “‘Sentiment,’” she spat at him. Loki looked at her in shock, starting to feel the pain of the knife, taking his breath away as if he had just had his heart ripped from his chest. In the distance, he heard Rachel coughing, trying to make up for the oxygen that she had lost.

‘So like Amora,’ he thought offhandedly, ‘to play with her food before devouring it.’ Loki closed his eyes and used his magic to push out the blade from within and then heal himself enough to stop the bleeding. Loki opened his eyes and saw Raina walking to join Amora in her attack on Rachel. He stared, frozen, thinking about what was undoubtedly about to happen and staggered towards Rain, only to get caught by one of the tar creatures that Amora had created.

“Would you like the honours?” Amora asked Raina with humour in her eyes, “She was your friend after all.”

“Why, yes, thank you,” Raina responded pleasantly before turning to Rachel.

“Rain. It’s me,” Rachel pleaded, still kneeling on the ground, “Don’t do this.”

Half of her was hoping that Raina just wouldn’t drag out her death too long. Rachel was drained, emotionally and physically. She was rapidly losing the will to fight. Rae looked into Rain’s eyes as she approached. Raina raised her arm, with a knife in her hand and brought it down to Rachel, who, out of instinctual self-preservation, caught Rain’s wrist. Rachel saw the red begin to leave Rain’s eyes, giving Rachel one last spark of hope.

“Kill her,” Amora commanded from a few feet away, “Now.”

Rachel looked up at Raina and smiled before twisting Rain’s wrist, causing her to yell out in pain and drop the knife, which Rae caught in her other hand. Quickly using Rain’s pain to her advantage, Rae stood up and snapped Rain’s wrist, wincing as she listened to her friend scream. Raina dropped to her knees and Rae immediately turned towards Amora with the knife that Raina previously held.

“How clever you must feel, besting another mortal,” Amora commented.

“I think I’ll feel cleverer besting you,” Rachel said, walking towards the Enchantress with a new-found purpose.

“Try if you must,” Amora laughed, glancing just behind Rachel and giving her enough time to turn around and see Raina creating a fire cyclone.

“No!” Loki bellowed at Rain as he got just outside of arm’s distance from her, still fighting with the creature. He distracted her enough that she looked over at him as he, with lightening, “I will not allow you to make my mistakes your own!” Loki closed the distance between them and grabbed her to hold her back, this time, however, she fought him to get to Rae.

Rachel turned back around to Amora, putting up a wall to stop the fireball that Amora had tried to send her way.

“You already used that trick,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes, though she was feeling exhausted.

“Yes, and I can see through your façade, you’re one more ‘trick’ away from ceasing to exist.”

“Haven’t you heard of a second wind?” Rachel said, using the force field that she had created to push past Amora’s magic and get within striking distance of her.

“Does it hurt?” Amora said, effectively stopping Rachel with her echo of Raina’s words, forcibly bringing up images of Steve’s last moments.

“Does what hurt?”

“Have you already forgotten? Dear Rain has told me everything about you. Everything that she knows, I know. All of your darkest secrets and deepest fears. So tell me mortal, how does it feel to lose everything you loved? To lose your purpose in the pathetic life that you lead?”  
Rachel stared at Amora with tears in her eyes, feeling a tightening in her throat that vaguely reminded her of being strangled.

“You failed at the one thing that you prided yourself on. You are useless at protecting those that you care about, aren’t you?” Rachel looked around to see everyone struggling with the creatures that they couldn’t quite escape, she barely glanced at the rock that Steve was still pinned to and she turned to see Raina knee Loki in the groin, then bring her elbow to his nose, breaking it.

“You are unable to protect anything, is that not correct,” Amora asked, causing Rae to turn around and see Amora directly in front of her, “Your family, your friends, your Captain,” Amora smiled as she stepped into Rae’s personal space, “Not even Rain, your so-called ‘best family.” Amora swiftly grabbed Rachel’s throat and brought a knife that she conjured to Rae’s stomach. Rachel coughed and gasped simultaneously, causing her to choke as she felt the burn of her own skin being sliced. In the distance, she heard a male calling her name, but kept what little focus she had on Amora. Rae raised the knife in her hand and cut Amora’s wrist deep, forcing the Enchantress to let go.

“How dare you; insolent mortal!”

Rachel coughed, but forced herself to remain standing. She raised the knife in her hand and plunged it into Amora’s chest with little hesitation. Rachel watched in melancholy and some relief as Amora’s eyes widened in shock that the small knife brought her as much pain as it did.

“I know which knives are Rain’s. Yours are poisoned, aren’t they,” Rachel said, breathing heavily as Amora dropped to her knees. Rachel turned her head and looked at the creatures liquefying and turning into puddles, confirming Amora’s death. Rae turned around and looked at Loki, who had just put his hand to Rain’s head, forcing her to go to sleep.

“Why didn’t you start with that?” Rachel croaked at him.

“I know not how long it will last, nor do I know the effects it will have on her mind,” Loki explained breathlessly as he reached for Raina’s broken wrist, mending it.

“Then why did you do it?”

“There was no other option. You took your time to kill the Enchantress. Could you not have been more swift?” He countered angrily.

Rachel balked at him, turning back to see Amora’s body crumpled by her feet. She jumped when she felt a hand at her arm. Loki turned her away from Amora and forced Rae to look at him, speaking only when her dark blue eyes met his green ones.

“You did what was necessary to finish the battle,” Loki said softly, “Do not mourn for one who would kill you without a second glance.”

“That sounds like something Steve would say,” Rachel returned, tears returning when she remembered that he was dead. She felt Loki’s grip tighten on her arm and chin slightly more than necessary, the physical pain somewhat distracting her from the emotional.

“Go watch Rain,” He said with a sudden hardness to his voice, letting her go.

“Wait,” he said almost immediately, stopping her before she had even taken a step to get around him. He placed his hand on her stomach lightly. Rachel looked at him in confusion until she felt a tingling sensation where she had been cut, realising that he was healing her. Once he had finished, Rachel smiled emptily at him before moving towards Rain. She collapsed next to Raina’s sleeping form, moving the hair out of her friend’s face while trying not to think about Steve or look at the rock.

Loki walked over to Thor and said with a smile gracing his face, “Brother, shall we take care of this demon, once and for all?”

“It would be a pleasure.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Are you able to imprison him again?” Thor questioned his younger brother.

“Yes, but you shall have to distract him while I prepare the spell; it shall take a bit of time.”  
Thor began to quickly twist around Mjolnir in his hand, taking off into the air towards Sutur. Loki immediately went to work casting the powerful spell needed. He held his hands out in front of him, shoulder high as he summoned up the magic needed; small, glowing runes appeared in a circle around Loki's feet as he did so.

“Your time of freedom is at an end, demon!” Thor bellowed at Surtur, trying to distract him. The giant demon turned toward the thunderer in time for Thor to crash into the side of his face with Mjolnir.

“Insolent Asgardian! The Enchantress was hardly a match for me, you shall be just as easily disposed of!” Surtur bellowed as he raised a hand, knocking Thor away to crash back down on the ground. Thor quickly stood back up and began to twirl his hammer around above his head, summoning lightening. Dark clouds began to gather above the large demon, the air growing thick with energy.

“You think a pathetic storm can stop me?!” Surtur began to summon a fireball from his hand and as he went to throw it, he was suddenly halted by a large lightning bolt, worthy of the Greek god Zeus, striking him straight down his body. Surtur roared in pain as the bolt traveled all the way through him and into the ground. Thor began to swing Mjolnir again to take flight, but as he rose from the ground Surtur had managed to hastily summon another fireball and sent it to the thunderer.

Thor immediately saw the ball of fire heading his way and went to dodge it. The fireball flew by the thunderer, grazing his left arm, as it continued through the air, crashing into a nearby boulder. Thor was knocked back down to the ground, landing on his feet as he skidded backwards. Glancing down his arm, Thor assessed his now burnt arm; it was thankfully just a slight singe.

“How much longer brother?” Thor called over to Loki, who was still in the process of summoning up enough magic.

“I am almost ready, just another minute or two more!” Loki's hands were now glowing a bright, emerald-green as he quickly gathered up the magic. The runes around his feet were glowing even brighter than before as the spell was near completion. Thor turned his attention back onto Surtur just as another fireball was sent towards him. Rolling to the side the thunderer barely dodged the ball of fire.

“You think you can imprison me? I know what you and the trickster are planning, thunderer, and you will never succeed!” Surtur was quick to send another, bigger ball of fire towards Loki, whom was unable to move or defend himself or else he would interrupt the spell. Thor threw himself in front of Loki, using Mjolnir to repel the fireball. Lightning crackled from Mjolnir as they met, the fireball dissipated sending small embers to the side.

“Think all you want demon, you will be beaten this day by the sons of Odin!” Thor shouted as he swung his hammer, taking off towards Surtur with great speed. As Thor neared the demon's face for another shot, he was grabbed from the air by one of Surtur's giant hands.

“You cannot use the same trick on me thunderer! I will crush you!” Surtur's grip tightened around Thor who was unable to move at all. “Now, shall we try this again!” The demon summoned a fireball from the heavens and sent it falling towards Loki.

“Loki!” Thor warned his brother as he tried to escape Surtur's grip. Loki, still in casting, was unable to do anything as the fireball crashed down upon him. “No!”

“Even gods can die by the hands of a demon.” Surtur gloated, going back to crushing Thor within his hand.

“Honestly Thor, how many times are you going to fall for that?” A familiar voice remarked from behind Surtur. Thor glanced over the large demon's shoulder to see Loki floating in the air, seemingly standing on top of the glowing rune circle around the bottom of his feet. Surtur turned to look for Loki just as large, glowing, green chains encircled him, forcing him to release Thor who landed on his feet on the ground several feet below.

“This is not possible!” Surtur bellowed out as he tried to escape the chains.

“Oh, but it is.” Loki grinned, directed his hands downwards to where the ground had started opening up under the demon's feet. The chains began to pull Surtur down into the ground as he continued to struggle.

“You may be able to imprison me again, but I leave you with this parting gift!” A large firebal shot out of the demon's mouth and headed straight towards Raina. “Let's see you return the mortal back to normal now, Asgardians!” 

“Rachel!” Loki warned the young woman. Rachel attempted to protect Raina and herself from the ball of fire, but she did not have enough energy as the fireball continued on its course, hitting Raina dead on; the force from the blast knocked Rachel back a few feet. The ground shook as the crack that was enveloping Surtur closed back up, imprisoning the demon once again.

“Thor, that fireball was laced with magic; Surtur intends for his control to be permanent with or without him!” Loki quickly explained to Thor, floating back to the ground to stand beside the thunderer. Loki's sleeping spell on Raina was immediately worn off as she absorbed both the magic and the fire. Raina stood from where she lay on the ground, her skin much more tan with a red tint to it. She flexed her fists as she felt the new strength within her.


	17. Chapter 17

“That can’t be good,” Clint commented warily.

“Not a-fucking-gin,” Gwen whined with the Hulk standing behind.

“How are we going to do this now?” Tony asked.

Loki teleported himself next to Rae, who flinched, lest Rain decide to go after her friend once again. He wrapped his long fingers around her upper arm and teleported them back to Thor, Loki pushing Rachel behind himself and Thor as means of protection for her.

“We’ll do it carefully,” Natasha said to Tony. As soon as Natasha spoke, Raina’s eyes locked on her and they all realised what Raina was going to do.

“Nat,” Clint said lowly, taking slow steps towards her.

Using a massive gust of wind, Raina threw herself over towards Natasha. As Raina landed in front of Natasha, another gust of wind went out around the two, knocking everyone else to the ground.

“You always annoyed me Romanoff.” Raina pulled out a knife from the inside of her coat and tried to cut Natasha. 

“Rain you are not yourself, stop this.” Natasha attempted as she dodged the knife, moving backwards as she did so. As they neared a large rock, Natasha grabbed Raina’s wrist and twisted it, causing Raina to drop the knife.

“Bitch!” Raina cried out as the knife fell from her hands. With her other hand in a fist, Raina punched Natasha in the face. Stumbling back from the hit Natasha was forced to release Raina’s wrist.

“Rain calm down!” Thor commanded as he wrapped his arms around Raina in a tight grip. Clint went to see if Natasha was alright, while Loki and Rachel went over to Raina. As Rachel opened her mouth to attempt to talk Raina out of her mind control, Raina pulled out another knife and stabbed it into Thor’s arm, causing him to release his hold on her. She blasted everyone back a few feet, knocking Rachel, who had no energy left, to the ground.

“Pathetic, all of you! I’ll show you all what happens to those that lie to me!

“Enough!” Rachel screamed at Raina as she stood up.

“I am sick and fucking tired of you saying that no one understands you!” Rachel shrieked as she made her way up to her friend.

“You don’t! You never-”

Raina was cut off when Rachel grabbed her wrist and shoved Raina against the boulder that she was going to kill Natasha on. Raina struggled with Rachel, trying to break free, but Rachel was using her powers to force Raina to stay put.

“Hold still,” Rachel growled.

“Leave. Me. Alone!” Raina screamed. Rachel’s only reaction was to grab Raina’s wrist and break it again.

“I just fixed that,” Loki said dryly.

“Yeah well I don’t hear you coming up with any better ideas!” Rachel responded over Raina’s scream of pain.

“Shh,” Rachel cooed as she touched Rain’s forehead with her fingers. Rachel closed her eyes and pushed her own will over Sutur’s. She delved deeper into Rain’s mind, forcing her will passed all of the self-doubt, insecurities and hatred that Surtur had found in Raina. Rachel finally found the wall that Surtur had sealed Raina in and, after a few more moments, cracked it.

Luckily, that was all she needed to do before Rain could fight for herself once again. Raina simultaneously forced Rachel and Surtur out of her mind before both women collapsed on the ground.

"Kid?" Rachel asked quietly as Loki and the others ran over to the pair. Raina looked up at Rachel with her normal pure gray eyes before she started looking around the landscape.

"W-what have I done?"

Rachel shook her head, "You didn't mean it Rain."

"Rain?" Loki asked as he reached down and gingerly touched her shoulder.

Rain looked up at Loki before she started sobbing, "I'm so sorry."

Loki pulled Raina up into his embrace, “It’s okay Rain. It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”

Raina buried her head into Loki’s shoulder as she cried while Rachel attempted to stand up, failing in her attempt, prompting Bruce, who had changed back to his regular form, to take her hand and pull her up, wrapping an arm around Rachel’s shoulders and forcing her to lean into him for support.

After a few moments, where no one spoke, Raina pulled away, and, glancing over Loki’s shoulder, saw Steve’s body, still pinned to the rock. Raina froze and inhaled sharply, only to let out a blood-curdling scream. Everyone turned to the direction in which Raina was staring, prompting a sob to escape between Rachel’s lips when she saw the reason for Rain’s scream.

“Loki,” Tony said sharply, “Get them out of here.”

Loki looked to Tony, his face open and his eyes wide.

“Take them to Pepper,” Tony ordered, adding “Now,” when Loki didn’t move.

“Gwen, go with them,” Bruce added softly, pushing her towards Loki as he practically handed Rachel over. Gwen only nodded, taking Loki’s hand.

As soon as Loki appeared with the women in Stark Tower, Jarvis welcomed them, prompting Loki to ask where Pepper was.

“I’m right- What happened?” Pepper gasped as she saw the tear stained faces of Raina and Rachel and the blood covering all three women.

“Take them,” Loki said.

“But-”

“I have not the time to argue with you!”

Gwen stepped away from Loki, when he started yelling, pulling Rain with her. Pepper stepped up and grabbed Rachel to prevent her from falling while Rain started pulling away from Gwen in an attempt to get back to Loki.

“Love, you must remain-”

“You have to fix it,” Rain sobbed, “Please Loki-” Rain broke off, crying harder.

“I will endeavor to my dear Rain,” Loki promised before he disappeared.

“What the hell happened?” Pepper asked over Raina’s crying.

Gwen shot a look to Rachel, who was still being held up by Pepper, before speaking, “We fixed Raina, but I’m using the term ‘fixed’ very loosely.”

Raina, who had regained some semblance of wits, turned towards Rachel and grabbed her, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Rae, I didn’t mean it.”

To both Gwen and Pepper’s concern, Rachel's face remained blank and impassive. She didn’t even try to hold onto Raina as she slid to the floor at Rachel’s feet, sobbing and begging for forgiveness.

“Rae?” Pepper prompted. When she got no response, Pepper looked over to Gwen before she realised what must’ve happened and mouthed “Steve?” to Gwen for confirmation. Gwen nodded her head once before moving to go and pick Raina up from the floor.

“Okay kid, come on,” Gwen said, pulling on Raina’s arm.

“Rachel,” Raina cried, clearly unwilling to move. Gwen sighed before using her powers to calm the younger woman down, nearly making her go to sleep.

“Rae,” Gwen said as she failed to pick Raina up a second time, “Now would be a great time for you to make her stand up.”

Pepper looked at Rachel, who looked catatonic. Her face was showing no emotion, her eyes remained unfocused and Pepper was sure that the only reason Rachel was still standing was because Pepper was holding on to her.

“Okay,” Pepper said to Gwen, “We’re going to take Rachel to the living room, then we’re going to take Raina to the living room, then we’re going to make them their favourite tea and possibly lace it with alcohol.”

Gwen nodded before letting go of Raina and taking one of Rachel’s elbows, leaving the other one for Pepper, and leading her into the living room.


	18. Chapter 18

Loki reappeared in Muspelheim where the remaining Avengers were standing in a circle around the rock that Steve’s broken body was still pinned to, debating how to get the knives, which were driven in deep, out without further damaging the body. As Loki walked up to them, he noticed that the Captain’s eyes had been closed.

“Allow me,” Loki said softly.

All heads turned towards him as he made it to the circle, Bruce and Clint moving to allow him room. 

“I’d stand back if I were you,” He cautioned them. Loki waited a couple of beats for them to move away before he raised his hand and made a sharp jerking motion towards himself and pulling the various knives and pike out of Steve’s body while using the other hand to keep it up. Loki dropped the weapons before slowly lowering Steve to lie on his back on the ground.

“Do you mind,” Tony paused briefly, “Ya know, taking him home?”

“And cause more strife for Rachel?” Loki asked rhetorically before continuing, “No, I shall take him to Asgard. It would honour him more to have a warrior’s funeral.”

“Without Rachel?” Clint asked incredulously.

“He will rest three days before the ceremony,” Thor explained solemnly.

“What are we going to do about Rae?” Bruce asked, “It’s not like she was doing well before.”

“That was most likely because of her connection with Rain. Any outburst that she had while Rain’s mind was being held hostage was not her fault.”

“But her best friend killed her boyfriend,” Natasha said, “How can she forgive her?”

“Fiancé,” Tony corrected. When he looked up and saw everyone staring at him in shock, “Well maybe not yet, all I know is that he got her a ring a couple of weeks ago.”

“How about you do us all a favor and never tell Rachel?” Bruce said tersely.

“Rae’s not going to forgive her,” Clint supplied, continuing the conversation.

“Yes she will,” Loki said, “That’s what Rachel does.”

“I think that even Rachel will find it difficult to forgive,” Natasha returned.

“Let us hope you are wrong,” Thor commented.

“We should probably go back. Rachel and Raina are probably really fucked up emotionally right now,” Bruce stated.

Loki nodded and raised his hands to teleport everyone when two birds flew into the area.

“What are crows doing here?” Clint asked with surprise.

Loki and Thor looked in the direction and saw what they recognised as Huginn and Muninn.

“We must leave,” Thor said to Loki, who only nodded.

“I shall send you to Midgard,” he said, addressing the Avengers and raising his hands before they could protest.

“Let us hear what father has to say,” Thor told his brother as Loki transported himself, Thor and Steve’s body to Asgard.

+~*~+

“Bruce!” Gwen exclaimed when she saw him. Neither one hesitated to nearly run towards the other and embrace each other tightly.

“Pepper,” Tony sighed, hugging her tightly.

“Not that I want to interrupt this lovely moment,” Natasha started after a moment, “But where are Rachel and Raina?”

“The living room,” Gwen and Pepper answered simultaneously.

“Oh, not you two too.”

“Stark,” Clint started, “Your aversion to people speaking in synch isn’t one of our more pressing problems right now.” He then followed Natasha’s path into the living room. Clint frowned at the sight in the living room. Rachel had rolled off of the couch and was now curled in the fetal position underneath the coffee table while ignoring Raina, who was also on the floor, crying and still asking Rachel to forgive her.

“Jesus,” Clint heard Tony say as he entered the room.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Clint asked out loud.

“They should be separated,” Natasha answered as she went to Raina and drug her away from the coffee table. Raina immediately started to fight with Natasha to get back to Rachel, prompting Clint to call for Gwen. Gwen quickly came into the room and calmed Raina down enough for Clint to pick her up and put her back on the couch, allowing her to see Rachel.

“I think we should leave her for a minute,” Clint said before gesturing for everyone to leave the room.

“How are they?” Pepper asked, fear laced in her voice.

“Well,” Tony answered softly, “Rachel’s probably still in shock, but once she comes out of it, she’ll probably be suicidal and Rain is,” he sighed, “Just broken. That poor kid’s broken.”

Pepper frowned deeply, “Who do you think we can fix first?”

“We will worry about Rachel. Loki can help Raina,” Natasha said.

“That’s a little unfair, isn’t it?” Pepper asked.

“Well seeing as Rachel saw her best friend stab the person who would be taking care of her through the heart, I think that Rachel’s our main concern. Besides, she took care of all of us single-handedly. We owe her.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because Rain tried to kill you too?” Bruce asked calmly.

“She’s right,” Tony said, “But we need to take care of both of them until Loki can take care of Rain.”

“Well what are we going to do?” Gwen asked.

“How are you doing?” Clint asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Gwen answered shortly, adding, “Better than them,” when Clint shot her a disbelieving look.

“I think that they shouldn’t be around one another right now,” Pepper said.

“Agreed,” Natasha said.

“I’m not so sure,” Bruce countered.

“Raina keeps staring at Rachel, waiting for her to forgive her and Rachel can’t forgive her right now.”

“Do you think she’ll ever be able to?”

“No idea,” Tony answered, “But Bruce has a point that no one would let him make. They’re both suffering and who is going to understand the suffering better than the other person.”

“No,” Natasha argued, “Rae needs space.”

“She does,” Pepper agreed.

“So what, you wanna go drop Rachel off in her and Steve’s room?” Bruce asked sarcastically.

“I’m not saying that she needs to be alone. That would be idiotic and irresponsible, but she does need to be away from Rain.”

“So we’ll just take shifts with the two of them,” Tony said.

“I’ll take Rain in the living room,” Gwen volunteered.

“Where are we going to put Rae?” Clint asked.

“In her room.”

“I’m not sure”

“She needs something to comfort her.”

“Gwen,” Natasha asked, “Can you make someone go to sleep?”

“I’ll try anything once,” Gwen shrugged.

“Okay.”

“So, someone carries Rae out and I’ll stay with Rain until Rachel's out of her sight then I’ll go and try to make Rae sleep. Good plan?”

“It’s a plan.”

“Thanks Clint, really appreciate that.”

The group let out a collective sigh before they all headed into the living room. Natasha, Pepper and Gwen surrounded Raina, just in case she needed to be held back, while Bruce and Clint lifted the coffee table that Rachel was currently hiding under while Tony drug her out of the way. Once Tony had picked up Rachel, Gwen forced a calm over Raina and kept her calm for thirty seconds before following Tony to Rachel’s room.

Unbeknownst to Gwen, Natasha also followed behind Tony had made it to the room seconds after Gwen had opened the door for Tony.

“Jesus. You really are silent.”

Natasha allowed a small smile before beckoning Gwen to enter the room.

“Hey Rae,” Gwen said as she came and sat beside her friend.

Rachel didn’t respond, not that anyone had been expecting her to.

“I’m going to try to make you go to sleep, is that okay?”

Again, Rachel made no acknowledgements.

“Alright, I’m telling you now that if I don’t see or hear an objection within ten seconds, I’m assuming consent,” Gwen warned. The three of them watched Rachel for any signs that she didn’t want to sleep, or even that she had heard them, but after thirty seconds, Rachel still made no move.

“Do it,” Natasha finally ordered.

“Which one of you are going to stay with her?” Gwen asked as she touched Rachel’s forehead and persuaded her to be both tired and calm.

“I will,” Natasha answered before turning to Tony, “You can tell Clint.”

“Will do,” Tony answered, watching as Rachel actually yawned before closing her eyes of her own volition.

When Gwen pulled her hand away, she was met with two questioning gazes. Gwen nodded and said, “She’ll sleep now, but I can’t guarantee that she’ll have a dreamless sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to whohasthepizza for motivating me to actually have some semblance of a posting schedule.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a snow day so I figured I'd do a surprise post! Enjoy.  
> ~Jade

“Steve!” Rachel shrieked.

Steve struggled through the fogginess of his thoughts, trying to reach her. As he struggled through his own consciousness, he became aware of a white-gold light tinted blue, though he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Suddenly he felt weighted, or perhaps he was just becoming aware of the feeling, and then a burning in his lungs. Steve opened his mouth and gasped in air. Had he not been breathing? And if not, why did he just now need to?

With some difficulty, Steve opened his eyes and, upon seeing a bright light, snapped them shut. When he heard a feminine chuckle, his eyes once again opened, slowly, and this time he turned his head in the direction of the laugh. He was not entirely unsurprised to see that the laugh didn’t come from Rachel, though he was surprised to see an extremely pale woman wearing a dark green, almost black, corseted dress and black hair that came a little past her shoulders. What really caught Steve’s attention though were her eyes. Her pupils and irises were so pale that they were nearly white.

Steve blinked a few times before groggily asking, “Who’re you?”

“Captain Steven Grant Rogers,” she started, “You are quite the fighter.”

Steve looked at her curiously before attempting to sit up, but after failing, settling back down and speaking, “I don’t-”

“When you crashed into the ice,” she continued, cutting him off, “I thought I had you, but you fought. You fought me and you wouldn’t give up. ‘I can’t leave yet,’ you kept saying, and repeating her name.”

“What are you talking about?”

She only smiled before saying, “I tried to take you home with me, so to speak. Needless to say, you are truly a one woman man. This time though,” her smile turned wicked as her eyes met his, “Stabbed straight through the heart. I thought Ragnarok had come early and I was going to give my future mother an exquisite wedding gift, when the time came. Your heart was pierced and I thought you were mine.”

At her words, Steve remembered; Rachel’s mistrust, thinking that he would actually try to kill Rain, each blade that went through his body and the final one that hit his chest, Rachel screaming his name. Steve sat up abruptly, “Where’s Rachel?”

“Yes, you did keep repeating her name. Telling me that that’s why you weren’t going to leave.”

“But you took me?” Steve asked feeling defeated and wondering if he had gone to Hell.

“Yes, and you should thank me for it.”

“Am I still dead?”

“No. Even I wouldn’t torture you so.”

“And who exactly are you?”

“My name is Hel Lokidottir. I am the Goddess of Death and ruler of Niffleheim,” she smiled at him, “It is lovely to meet you and know that you will remember me this time.”

“Lokidottir,” he repeated slowly before looking up at her in surprise, “Loki has children?”

“Yes,” she laughed.

“And I’m in…Niffleheim?”

“No, you are in Asgard. My father requested that I reunite your soul and body for a Rachel. Tell me Steven, why would my father request his previous enemy be brought back to life?”

“Enough Hel,” Loki said as he entered the room, “You know very well that I did it because Rain requested it of me.”

“Begged is more accurate,” Hel muttered under her breath, causing Loki to shoot a glare her way.

“And here I thought you actually liked me,” Steve commented dryly, earning a wry smile from Loki.

“Why am I in Asgard?”

“My father requested my presence and I couldn’t very well send you to Midgard and have Hel bring you back to life without first being able to heal your wounds. It would have done nothing but cause you, and most likely Rachel, pain.”

“Where is she? Is she okay? What about Raina? And-”

Steve stopped speaking when Loki raised his hand, “She’s at the Tower of Stark presently, with Rain and everyone else, excluding my brother.”

“How did-”

“Rachel,” Loki offered as means of explanation, “She would have made you proud Captain. She was quite resilient and I suppose you would have considered her valiant,” he smiled, and then after a moment added soberly, “I shudder to think what would happen had she not have been there.”

Steve smiled, then frowned, “How long have I been-” he paused, “Not alive?”

“A few hours,” Hel answered.

“You’ve said what you wanted to say daughter, you may leave now,” Loki said, effectively dismissing Hel who rolled her eyes, but stood up and walked towards the door.

“How many do you have?” Steve asked curiously once Hel had retired from the room.

“Enough,” Loki answered.

“What about Rain?”

“She knew about them before she even met me,” Loki responded shortly, “You are able to stand, you know.”

Steve laughed as he threw the covers back and stood, “No, I mean she wants kids. How does she feel about you not wanting anymore?”

“How do you know of Rain’s desires?” Loki countered jealously.

“Rachel told me,” Steve explained simply.

“I have four already,” Loki confessed, “But if it would make Rain happy, I wouldn’t mind increasing the number. A bit.”

Steve smiled, “So, if I’m good to walk, does that mean that I’m good to go home?”

“Anxious are we?” Loki asked as he led Steve to the door of the room

“Knowing you, Rae probably still thinks I’m dead.”

“How did you guess?” Loki grinned. “In fact,” he started after a beat, “They all believe they’ll be attending a funeral for you in three day’s time.”

“What is wrong with you?” Steve asked, shaking his head in disbelief as the pair walked down one of the large golden halls.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little mischief, Captain.”

“Don’t expect me to save you from Rachel’s wrath. She’s probably going to beat you to death.”

“What luck that my daughter is the ruler of the dead,” Loki returned.


	20. Chapter 20

“Rae?” Raina croaked as she opened the door of Rachel and Steve’s shared bedroom in Stark Tower.

Rachel offered no answer and instead remained curled up in the center of the bed in the fetal position and clutching a pillow to her chest in an attempt not to cry. Bruce was keeping vigil by sitting next to her to make sure she didn’t do anything irrational. Bruce looked up when the door opened, and though he tried not to, he visibly tensed when he saw Raina. Part of it was remembering what she had done, but the other part was because he had no idea how Rachel would react.

Raina stopped before she could even enter the room and instead just spoke to Bruce, “They wanted me to check on her,” she mumbled quietly, “They wanted to see how she was.”

“I can hear you; I’m not deaf,” Rachel snapped, her voice muffled by the covers over her head.  
Rain said nothing; her eyes only filling with tears. However, she remained in the doorway, an awkward statue.

Rachel sighed and threw the covers back. She sat up and looked at Raina.

“Wanna get drunk?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Bruce commented, only to be ignored.

“That’s the best idea you’ve ever had,” Raina smiled.

“Wonder where Tony keeps his alcohol,” Rachel said, standing up.

“Don’t you live here?” Raina asked.

“Not anymore, but I’ve only ever raided the fridge.”

“Well, I say kitchen is a great place to start.”

“I don’t think that alcohol, or burying your feelings are good ways to go guys. I know you’ve been through a lot, but-”

“Look at my face,” She returned as she walked around the bed, “This is a face that doesn’t give a shit Bruce.”

“Rae,” Bruce said, exasperated, “Raina, please try and be reasonable here-”

“Actually,” Rachel commented, cutting him off, “Don’t look at my face. I look like shit.” Rachel then turned and headed into the bathroom, leaving a baffled Bruce sitting on the bed and Raina still standing in the doorway. After a few minutes, Rachel came out of the bathroom with a clean face, no make-up and freshly brushed hair.

“I feel better. Let’s go get drunk. Or Rain and I’ll go get drunk because you don’t drink.”

Bruce sighed, “Fine. I’ll just sit next to you and wait for whenever you’re ready to talk.”

“Okay,” Raina said.

“Sounds good,” Rachel added.

Rachel linked her arm through Raina’s and they left the room, to go towards the kitchen, Bruce trailing behind and mumbling that they were making a mistake. Once they made it to the kitchen, Rachel and Raina sought out the alcohol while Bruce disappeared into the next room for a moment, coming back flustered and irritated.

“Don’t go green on us there, Bruce,” Raina commented, leaning against the counter, as Rachel reached up and grabbed a bottle of vodka.

“Victory!” She yelled, causing Bruce to rub his hands over his face.

“If you’re that upset,” Raina started, “Then you should probably go chill with Gwen instead of us.”

“Raina,” Rachel chastised as she opened the bottle, now leaning on the same counter that Raina was.

“What?”

“You know what,” Rachel said before she took a long drink from the bottle.

“Please,” Bruce entreated, sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen, “Don’t drink too much.”

“No such thing as too much alcohol, ask Rain,” Rachel mumbled, “Right Rain?”

“Yep,” Raina answered somberly as Rae passed her the bottle.

Just as Raina swallowed the vodka, a golden white light blinded everyone in the room. When the light dissipated and Rachel saw three figures instead of the expected two, she turned her gaze to Loki.

“You little shit!” She screamed, using her mind to pull him forward to make it easier for her to hit him. She immediately slammed the heel of her foot onto his toes.

“Why are you angry?” Loki shouted as he attempted to take a step back unsuccessfully.

“I told you,” Steve commented as Rachel landed a particularly vicious blow to Loki’s shoulder.

“You lied!” Rachel yelled as she continued to hit the god.

“I am the God of lies, what do you expect?” Loki countered, earning himself a firm slap on the cheek. 

Steve winced for Loki’s sake and took a step towards Rachel, “Sweetheart, it’s okay-”

Steve froze with his hands in the air as Rachel turned her malicious gaze towards him, “Rachel,” he said soothingly. Her anger dissipated and all but jumped into Steve’s arms, shamelessly wrapping her legs around his waist and arms around his neck.

“It’s okay,” Steve repeated again as he held her in place.

“I missed you,” she mumbled quietly into his neck, causing him to chuckle.

“I missed you too,” he said, glancing over to Raina, who was hugging Loki and saying “Thank you.”

“If you request it, it will be done my love.”

Steve turned his attention back to Rachel when he felt her shift in his arms.

“Hi,” She said.

“Are you okay?”

“Better,” she answered.

“Good,” he smiled as she leaned down to kiss him.

“What the hell is going on?” Pepper asked in irritation, stopping when she saw Steve, who was setting Rachel down.

“Steve?” Gwen asked incredulously.

“Did you just beat the shit out of Loki?” Tony asked gleefully as he observed Loki’s red cheek.

“Yes, and he deserved it,” Rachel defended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, my favourite thing is to have Rachel abuse Loki in some fashion. It makes my heart warm.
> 
> Also, trying to do one update on Sunday or Monday then a second one Wednesday through Friday.
> 
> And, seriously, thanks to whohasthepizza for motivating me to update.


	21. Chapter 21

A few nights later, Steve rolled over and reached out in his sleep, but woke up when he couldn’t find who he was looking for. He sat up and looked around, glancing to the bathroom door, checking to see if the light was on before sighing. Steve had known that Rachel wasn’t just going to get over what had happened, but he had hoped that she would at least wake him up if she wasn’t able to sleep. He hated the thought of her staying up late by herself to keep the nightmares at bay.

Steve stood up and stretched before heading out of the door. He checked the living room of their floor before taking the elevator upstairs to the community living area. For a second, Steve thought about checking in the kitchen, but then thought better of it and headed for the living room. He sighed quietly when he saw her sitting on the couch, laptop next to her and the television on The Weather Channel on, something that Rachel had become prone to do to help her sleep.

“Rae,” he started quietly, walking up to her, “Don’t-”

Steve stopped when he realised that he was talking to Raina instead of Rachel. He wondered where the hell Rachel had gotten to until he realised that Raina had tears running down her pale cheeks.

“Hey Rain,” he said, walking around the couch to sit on her right, the side that the laptop wasn’t on.

“Hey Steve,” Raina managed.

“Do you want to talk?”

“Not really,” Raina sniffled.

“Okay,” he said, leaning back into the couch and turning his attention to the TV.

“Rain my dear, what are you-” Loki’s words died when he saw Rachel in the kitchen. Unlike any other time, she wasn’t making food. To Loki’s dismay, she was mixing a drink.

“Rachel, are you certain that this is the path in which you wish to take?”

“I think it’s better than trying to destroy a world because I found out I was adopted,” Rachel quipped as she started putting up the alcohol.

Loki frowned, “I will ignore that because of your recent suffering.”

“How big of you,” Rachel smirked as she made her way back to her glass.

“Do you purposefully mean to test my patience mortal?”

“Mortal?” Rachel questioned, looking up at him, “I thought we were past that.”

“If you feel the need to put me in my supposed place, then I will not hesitate to put you in yours.”

“Go fuck yourself your highness,” Rachel said sarcastically, taking a drink.

“You’re supposed to push me to talk, you know,” Raina stated after a few minutes.

“Sometimes pushing people isn’t the best thing for them,” Steve told her.

“I’m so sorry,” Raina cried, “I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t even there. I mean I was, but I didn’t do it- Well, I did do it, but I didn’t want to. Steve, you have to believe me, I didn’t want-” Raina’s words got stuck in her throat and she settled for crying.

“Raina,” Steve said softly as he turned to face her on the couch, “Raina, look at me.”

Reluctantly, Raina raised her head and met Steve’s gaze.

“I know it wasn’t you. Your eyes were almost blood red instead of their normal gray,” he smiled, “That’s how I know that you didn’t do it.”

“But I killed you Steve!”

Steve shrugged, “I’ve died before,” he joked, “And I’m sure that I’ll die again.”

“You better not,” Raina warned, wiping the tears from her face, “If you do, I’ll just bring you back, I can’t let you leave Rae-”

Rain’s voice broke at her friend’s name and Raina dropped her eyes, watching her hands in her lap.

Loki growled before taking Rachel’s drink from her and downed it himself, adding, once he saw the shocked look on her face, “I need something to keep me from murdering you.”

“I needed that to sleep,” Rachel frowned, “Besides, I thought that your never ending love for Raina would keep you from killing me.”

“Not when you insist on hurting her.”

“Are you fucking kidding me Loki?” Rachel said, not bothering to hide the hurt that she felt, “I watched her kill Steve, literally stab you in the back, try and kill Natasha and attack me and you expect me to just, what? Forgive her after a few days? When I still can’t sleep because I’m seeing all of this? And, even better, when I’m remembering having to kill a person? I fucking killed a person Loki! I’m sure it’s not much to you, but it’s a big fucking deal to me!” Rachel continued, her voice taking on a hysterical edge, “And you fucking come in here telling me that I need to get over myself?! And by the fucking way, it was only a god damn gin and tonic so that I could fucking sleep without waking up screaming or crying or a combination of the two. So if you’re not going to just sit here and be quiet, I have no use for you. Go the fuck away and go find Rain.”

“Just give her time,” Steve started, “She killed someone too, and she doesn’t have the advantage that you do, she remembers all of it and she made the decision to do it.”

Raina looked back up at him, “But I do remember, the more time that passes, the more I can remember.”

Steve sighed and pulled Raina into a tight hug, “They’ll fade,” he said surely, “And they won’t keep you up as much. Especially if you have the right person next to you.”

Raina pulled away to look at Steve, “Are you sure?”

“Rain, I’m speaking from experience,” Steve told her, giving her an apologetic smile.

“Oh my Odin,” Raina gasped, “I didn’t even think about that. I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“Raina,” Steve said, taking her hand in his, “This isn’t about me. We’re talking about you.”

“Will you ever forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Steve responded seriously.

Loki stood there with his mouth open for a moment before he remembered himself, “I am- I…apologise Rachel.”

“I don’t care,” Rachel said, sitting down at the island miserably, “You’re so fucking selfish, but you expect me to be selfless. Everyone does, but your brand of selfishness pisses me off so much. Like I don’t know that Rain’s upset. She’s the one remembering all of this shit.”

“She only remembers pieces.”

“No,” Rachel said, “She remembers more just about every few hours. Just flashes, but it’s more than each time.”

Loki looked at Rachel, “How?”

“You made me find her,” Rachel said by means of explanation.

Loki’s eyes widened, “Rachel,” he started, “I truly did not mean-”

“Yeah well, damage’s done,” Rachel shrugged, laying her head onto her arms, which where rested on the island, “Do you know how much it physically hurts to feel your own guilt for what you’ve done, then the isolation and guilt for stuff that someone else has done?”

“I don’t think Rae agrees.”

“Well you didn’t ask her, did you? You asked me.”

Raina gave Steve a tentative smile, “Thanks.”

“That being said, if mine and Rae’s roles were switched, I wouldn’t forgive you for a while, which is why, as I said earlier, you need to give her some space. I know it’s tough as hell not being able to go to your best friend, even worse when she’s usually not only on the same planet as you, but you of all people should know that she’s stubborn as hell and can’t be pushed into something she doesn’t want to do.”

“I think this is the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Raina frowned, eyes tearing up again.

“You think!?” Steve exclaimed, “What the hell could you have done worse?”

Despite herself, Raina laughed at Steve’s reaction, “Fair point dude.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Feeling a little better?”

“No, but you do not have to either,” Loki said, walking up to her.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked, sitting up.

“Do you trust me?”

“No,” Rachel said honestly.

“That hurts,” Loki said playfully as he slowly moved closer to her, “After all, the person you picked as your best friend trusts me with her life.”

“Yeah, well we’ve been questioning her sanity for years,” Rachel smiled.

“We?” Loki asked, stopping his advance.

“Yeah, me and Rain. And everyone who’s ever met her,” Rachel laughed.

“She said ‘we’ to me.”

“So?”

Loki reached out to touch Rachel’s head without an explanation, causing Rachel to lean backwards, “What are you doing?”

“Must you fight me?”

“Not everyone’s willing to cater to your whims.”

“But things would go much more smoothly if you did,” Loki whispered.

“Why?”

Raina looked up at Steve and was surprised to realise how close they were, which caused Raina to blush, “Uh, yeah.”

“Good,” Steve smiled.

Raina looked at him for a moment, “Has anyone told you how pretty you are?”

Steve blinked, “What?”

“What?”

“You can’t just repeat what I say.”

“Yes I can; it’s called deflecting. I’d assume that you’d know what that is, you know, being with Rachel and all.”

Steve rolled his eyes again, “And you should know that I don’t like it.”

“Cuz you’re all American and like things to be straight forward.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I’m kinda sleepy,” Raina said, yawning and pulling Steve towards her slightly.

“You’re suddenly tired now?”

“Yeah,” Raina said, leaning on Steve’s shoulder, “It’s kinda weird isn’t-” Raina didn’t get to finish speaking as she fell asleep, leaning on Steve, who only sighed, “Guess she wasn’t just deflecting.”

“Because I fear that you both are suffering more than necessary.”

“Wow,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes, “Did that take a lot of brain power to come up with that?”

“No, you insufferable woman,” Loki growled, “I had you go into Rain’s mind and widen the connection between the two of you without teaching you to close it.”

“Oh,” Rachel said, “That explains a lot actually.”

“Yes, the feelings that aren’t yours and having knowledge of Rain’s recollections.”

“And the feelings for you.”

“What?”

“What?” Rachel asked before thinking better of it, “Nothing.”

Loki rolled his eyes, “Now if you will, please allow me to fix the problem.”

Rachel grinned sheepishly at Loki, “Sure.”

Loki reached out once again and touched Rachel’s head lightly with his fingers, “This may hurt a bit.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t you say that first?” Rachel asked angrily before Loki rendered her unconscious in order to prevent her from feeling any true pain. He sighed after he closed the connection as far as he could. He knew that it could open again, but he wasn’t overly concerned about it at the moment. When he let go, Rachel started to fall backwards, off the barstool before Loki caught her and leaned her onto the island, rolling his eyes when she shifted, nearly off of the seat. Loki shook his head before turning to, finally, in his opinion, go and check on Rain in the living room.  
“I see you have found Rain,” Loki said, as he entered the room, pausing and glaring at the fact that Raina’s head was quite clearly resting on Steve’s shoulder.

“She fell asleep on me,” Steve explained once he saw the look on Loki’s face.

“Yes well yours said that she had feelings for me.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked, choosing to ignore the fact that he referred to Rachel as if she were property.

Loki only smirked at Steve before picking Raina up.

“Where is she?”

“In the kitchen, sleeping in a chair. I’d hurry if I were you, she looked precariously perched,” Loki grinned.

Steve sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to decide whether to get Rachel or hit Loki for leaving her sleeping in a chair before making his decision and standing up, “You know, being your usual self isn’t going to help Rachel, so in the end, you’re only putting Raina back.”

“Normally you’d be close to being correct, but today Captain, you’re completely wrong,” Loki said as he left the room with Raina in his arms. Steve rolled his eyes and, after turning off everything, went into the kitchen where Rachel was, in fact, sitting on a barstool just about to fall off.

“Rae,” Steve said, setting her back onto the stool before shaking her lightly.

“Mmm?” Rachel asked sleepily, causing Steve to smile.

“You fell asleep.”

Rachel sat up, suddenly very awake, “Where’s Loki?”

Steve frowned, “Why?”

“Because he put me to sleep after messing with my head.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter, I need to sleep,” Rachel said as she slid off of the chair, Steve holding onto one of her arms to make sure she stayed upright.

“Is that why he said you told him you had feelings for him?”

“That little shit.”


	22. Chapter 22

“So in addition to your powers,” Gwen started, “You also have a psychic connection with Rae?”

“According to Loki,” Raina shrugged, stabbing the pancakes that Bruce had made with her fork.

“But he closed it?” Natasha asked.

“Mostly.”

“What do you mean mostly?”

“I mean mostly,” Raina shrugged.

“Will you please eat the pancakes?” Bruce asked, exasperatedly.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Raina, you need-”

“Rain. Eat,” Rachel ordered as she walked in, Steve walking behind her with his hand on the small of her back, almost as if he were steadying her.

Raina dropped her head to her plate and immediately took a bite of food. Nearly everyone in the room raised their eyebrows but said nothing as Rachel sat at the bar a couple chairs down from Raina. Bruce slid a plate in front of her telling her, “You better eat too.”

“I missed your pancakes,” Rachel said, smiling with effort, “Of course I’ll eat them.”

Bruce smiled sympathetically at Rachel before sliding a plate towards Steve.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

The duration of breakfast was a tense affair to say the least, especially when Loki finally drug himself out of bed and came into the kitchen. He continued to send sidelong glances and outright glares towards Rachel and though she ignored him, Steve found himself glaring back and pulling Rachel even further from Raina. After breakfast, no one was surprised to find that Rachel had disappeared and that Loki would continue to glare at Steve as if blaming him for Rachel’s actions while Loki held onto Raina, not allowing her out of his sight.

Steve checked on Rachel after half an hour. He found her crying in the shower with the water running. Steve sighed and walked into the room.

“Rae?”

Rachel looked up at Steve with shock as he slowly walked towards her. Steve reached above her and turned off the water before kneeling in front of her.

“Please talk to me.”

Rachel pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face.

“Rachel,” Steve begged, reaching out and resting his hand on her knee.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Rachel finally lifted her head up and, avoiding Steve’s gaze, said, “I just want to be alone.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“I don’t want you here.”

“Rachel, I don’t care,” Steve frowned, “You’re not supposed to hide from me, remember?”

“Steve please,” Rachel cried.

“No.”

Rachel sighed and Steve stood up before reaching his hand out. Rachel looked at it before she accepted it and Steve lifted her to her feet in one swift motion.

“You really thought it was a good idea to get into the shower without changing your clothes?”

While still avoiding Steve’s gaze, Rachel responded with, “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Just give me five minutes,” Rachel begged.

Steve frowned, “Okay, but I want the door left open.”

Rachel sighed, “Fine.”

Steve hesitated for a second before tilting Rachel’s head up and kissing her on the cheek, “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered.

“Except to the bedroom,”

“Rachel, that’s not what I meant.”

“I’m aware.”

It took everything in Steve not to roll his eyes, so instead he tightened his jaw and nodded before turning and leaving the room. Once alone, Rachel stripped off her soaking clothes and hung them up around the bathroom in hopes of drying them. She then washed her face and pulled her now curly hair into a bun before wrapping a towel around herself and exiting the bathroom.

Steve looked up from his spot on the bed when Rachel came out. She turned and went to the dresser before grabbing a shirt and a pair of shorts. Steve watched as she threw the clothes and turned back around, looking at him with an annoyed expression

“I’m not going to kill myself you know,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

“I never said that you-”

“Not leaving me alone, not trusting me with the door closed. I’ve been there Steve, and that’s exactly how you treat someone who you think’s gonna kill themselves.”

“Rachel you killed someone,” he told her, watching as she flinched when he said it, “It’s not just something you’re going to get over and you can’t just not talk about it.”

“Oh you mean like you do?”

“Rachel,” Steve started, standing up, “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Then give me some space Steve.”

“But-”

“If you’re not here for suicide watch, then it shouldn’t be a problem,” Rachel told him.

Steve sighed, realising too late that he had taken the bait that she had laid out, “Fine,” Steve finally agreed. Rachel nodded and then added, almost as a consolation, “I’m just straightening my hair.”

“Then you’ll be out?”

“I don’t want to plan that far ahead,” Rachel told him, not thinking.

“Jesus Rachel,” Steve said, exasperated.

“Jesus to you; I meant that I was going sleep.”

Steve sighed, “I’m just going to the living room.”

“Okay.”

Rachel watched Steve leave before she threw herself on the bed and started crying again. After a couple of hours, she finally got up and started to straighten her hair.

“Captain,” Natasha said as she entered the room a few hours later.

Steve looked up, “Hey.”

“We were starting to wonder where the two of you had gotten to,” Natasha smiled.

“She doesn’t want me to be around her,” Steve said, the pain evident in his voice as he looked back down.

“So you left her?”

“She’s more manipulative than I give her credit for, especially when she’s hurt.”

Natasha nodded, “Would you mind if I tried?”

Steve shrugged, “Be my guest,” he told her, though some jealous part of him was hoping that Natasha would have no better luck than he did.

Natasha walked to the bedroom and went in without knocking. She saw Rachel lying horizontally on the bed with her arms spread out. Rachel was staring at the ceiling as Natasha closed the door behind her.

“Go away,” Rachel croaked.

“You can’t order me away as you did with Steve,” Natasha told her as she walked up to the bed.

“Did he send you in here?”

“I came of my own volition.”

“Well feel free to take your leave,” Rachel sighed.

Natasha looked down at Rachel for a moment before sitting on the edge of the bed, “You shouldn’t do this.”

“I don’t think you should be lecturing me on emotions Natasha.”

“If you’re going to be like this, then perhaps you should off yourself.”

“Despite what you all think, I don’t have any desire to kill myself. Drink myself to death, perhaps, but I’m not about to go to the top of the tower and jump.”

“I just had to check.”

Rachel sat up and looked at Natasha, “I think I could learn a few things from you.”

Natasha let her lips curve into a smiled, “That’s an understatement.”

“I really do just want to be alone,” Rachel said quietly, “I just have to deal.”

“You should be dealing with it, but you need company occasionally.”

“Just be quiet,” Rachel sighed, throwing herself back on the mattress.

“I’ll be sure to tell Steve,” Natasha said, standing up.

“But-”

“No arguments or I’ll break something.”

“Yes ma’am,” Rachel responded wryly.

Natasha smiled and left the room, “She told me that she’d rather have you in there as long as you’re quiet.”

Steve looked at her, “How’d you get her to agree to that?”

“I didn’t,” Natasha told him as she started to leave, “But you should make sure she eats dinner in an hour.

“Why an hour?”

“Because that’s when we’re eating and she should come out more than once a day.”

Steve nodded as he stood up, “Thanks.”

“For what Steve? She means something to all of us; she’s just loathe to show her weakness in front of you.”

Steve sighed, “I know.”

Natasha nodded and left while Steve opened the bedroom door and walked back in.

“Do you think you’ll be up to eating in an hour?”

“No,” Rachel sighed.

“Will you try?”

“I guess,” Rachel responded as Steve sat next to her on the bed.

“Try and sleep.”

“There’s no point.”

“Just an hour, you probably won’t be able to have a dream.”

Rachel sighed and closed her eyes, moving over slightly, giving Steve room to lie next to her. They both lay there, facing the ceiling and not talking for an hour, during which, Rachel had fallen asleep. True to his word, Steve woke her up, having to grab her wrists to prevent her from swinging at him.

They then left to go to dinner, which was just as tense as breakfast. Instead of being worried about Raina, most everyone had their worry focused on Rachel. Loki still glared at her while he sat across the table from her with Raina next to him. Steve glared right back at him while trying to get Rachel to eat more than a single bite of food. After dinner, Rachel disappeared again, going back to her room.

“So this is horrible,” Bruce frowned at Steve as the pair of them and Tony and Pepper cleaned up.

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be fine,” Tony told them, “Just give it time.”

“Tony, I think you’re being delusionally optimistic.”

“No I’m not, with everything that the two of them have gone through, this is just one more thing-”

“Yes and it could be the one that breaks them,” Pepper argued.

“Let’s not go that far,” Bruce begged.

“Sorry,” Pepper apologised.

“I’m gonna go check on her.”

“Steve,” Tony started, “Give her a minute.”

“I gave her all day.”

“I actually think Tony’s right on this one,” Bruce said.

Steve sighed and sat down, “Fine.”

Steve actually ended up giving Rachel a whole hour before he went to check on her. He found her curled in a ball on his side of the bed, asleep. Steve sighed and got ready for bed, feeling more drained than he could ever remember.

Rachel woke up in the middle of the night and went to the communal living room in Stark Tower. She thought about turning on the TV, but decided against it and ended up sitting in the dark for a few moments. Suddenly she felt a presence in the room and said, “What do you want?”

“Raina cannot sleep,” Loki told her.

“Then why aren’t you with her.”

“She cannot sleep because she doesn’t have you,” Loki said as he came and sat next to Rachel on the couch, “I require-”

“I’m going through stuff right now, if you don’t mind.”

“Tell me about it.”

Rachel looked up at him, “It’s not just remembering things anymore,” she said after a moment, “I’ve got a very vivid imagination.”

“Who is killing who?” Loki asked.

“How did you-”

“Please, you are not so complicated as you would believe.”

“Hey, can you do it without being an asshole? Because Steve, Clint and Natasha made sure that I could defend myself and I can actually hurt you now.”

Loki nodded, “I mean that your symptoms are not unusual.”

“Actually, I feel better when you’re being an asshole; it gives me something to focus on.”

“You should be focusing on yourself.”

“I’m kinda dark and scary right now.”

“Aren’t we all?”

Rachel smiled at him for a moment, “I just want to not remember some things. I think. Or maybe just stop myself from dreaming,” Rachel sighed, leaning back, “Yeah; I just want to take a pill to stop dreaming.”

“Does your ale not do that for you?”

“That’s a fifty/fifty shot,” Rachel sighed, “Unfortunately.”

“I could block out your memories, help you to forget.”

Rachel looked at him with shock, her dark eyes turning stormy for a moment, “Why don’t you do it for Rain if you can do that?”

Loki looked away, “She’s not like you.”

“What do you mean?”

Loki looked back to Rachel, “She needs to remember.”

“Why don’t I?”

“Rachel, all that you are remembering is pain, events that are preventing you from being with your friend-”

“And there it is,” Rachel snapped, standing up, “What you meant to say was ‘It’ll help Rain out,’ isn’t it?”

Rachel shook her head and turned to walk away before Loki could respond. Loki reached out and grabbed her wrist tightly to prevent her from leaving. Without thinking, Rachel yanked her wrist away, nearly pulling Loki from his seat on the couch. For a moment, both of them looked at the other with wide eyes.

“I apologise.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?” Loki asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

Rachel shook her head and held her wrist in her hand while avoiding Loki’s gaze, “Guys used to do that to me when they wanted me to do something that I didn’t want to do. Michael twisted.”

Loki stared at Rachel for a moment, “You have so many pains already.”

Rachel looked up at Loki with tears in her eyes, “You really are like Lucifer. You’ll manipulate anyone to get what you want.”

“Rachel, you are in pain,” Loki implored, “I could easily-”

“Make me forget so that I can take care of Rain.”

Loki sighed, “If you are unwell, then she will mimic your symptoms.”

“Just stop Loki,” Rachel sighed, “Don’t try and fuck with my mind.”

“Rachel,” he said, standing up as she began to walk away.

“What?” She asked with fatigue.

“You truly believe me incapable of harbouring any emotions other than contempt for you?”

“Yeah,” Rachel said, nodding her head.

Loki shook his head, “You and I are alike, in many ways. The stories that Rain’s told me-” Loki cut himself off, glancing to Rachel for her reaction and was annoyed that her face remained impassive, “I know your sufferings and I feel something close to a kinship towards you. But you are right; my first priority is Rain. She needs you to take care of her.”

“No Loki,” Rachel argued, “She needs you to take care of her. I’m not her mother. I’m her friend. Yes, when I’m ready, I’ll be there for her, but right now, you’ve got to be the one to pick up the pieces.”

“How?”

“See Loki, that’s the thing; I can’t just tell you what to do. What happens when I’m dead and Rain has a breakdown in Asgard? It’s not like you can just walk over to Niflehiem and ask me what to do,” Rachel paused for a moment, “Or can you?”

“We will not see you die, lest Rain try and follow you.”

“Thanks,” Rachel chuckled, before continuing, “You’ve got to figure out what she needs from you. Do what I never did; ask her.”

Loki sighed, “And if she doesn’t know?”

“Didn’t you raise any of your kids?” Rachel asked rhetorically, “Then you get to guess and see what works, just stay away from alcohol and sex.”

Loki looked at Rachel, “Did she tell you?”

“Tell me what? You know- No, I don’t want to know. But I do know her, so,” Rachel smiled and chose not to finish her sentence.

Loki smiled at her before suddenly taking a step forward and engulfing Rachel in a hug before she could take a step backwards.

“You were truly valiant,” He whispered in Rachel’s ear, “But now it time for you to allow the Captain to take care of you. You know that he desires it. And I do believe that the reason you came to this reality was so that you would no longer be alone.”

Loki then released Rachel, who had tears rolling down her cheeks, “I’m tired.”

“Go,” Loki smiled at her.

Rachel wiped the tears off of her cheeks, “This is what you really wanted, wasn’t it?”

“As you say my dear, Lucifer.”

Rachel sighed momentarily before leaving the room and almost running to hers. She opened the door to find Steve on the other side. He had been reaching for the handle when Rachel had been prying it open.

“Where have you been?” Steve asked with concern.

“Oh, you know,” Rachel shrugged, “Starting gangs, getting into fights and baking.”

Steve blinked, “What?”

“With Loki.”

“Why?” Steve asked, failing to smother the jealousy that ran through him.

Rachel shrugged before closing the gap between herself and Steve and wrapping her arms around him, “I missed you.”

“I didn’t go anywhere,” Steve replied as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Yes you did,” Rachel said pulling away.

“No,” Steve contradicted, closing their bedroom door, “I didn’t.”

Rachel said nothing as Steve led her to the bed, “I want to go home,” Rachel told him quietly as they sat down.

“I’m not entirely sure that’s a good idea Rae,” Steve frowned, taking her hand.

Rachel allowed a few tears to escape at Steve’s words, “But maybe there I won’t have nightmares.”

Steve tilted her head up so that she was looking at him, “That’s not going to help. Trust me, I know.”

Rachel started crying, “But I’m so tired of watching you die.”

Steve nodded, though Rachel wasn’t looking and pulled her into his lap, almost sighing in relief when she wrapped her arms around his neck, “It’ll pass Rachel, I promise.”

“I want it gone now,” Rachel sobbed.

Steve nodded as he rocked her back and forth, “I know sweetheart, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, I've been busy with school. I'm going to do another one tomorrow.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I'm a dirty liar. But here's the update!

Rachel woke up with a start. She sat up and blinked a few times, trying to get the image of Amora out of her head. She was so busy trying to rid herself of the guilt that she didn’t realise that Steve had woken up or moved until he put his hand on her knee, causing her to jump.

“Did I wake you?” She asked tiredly.

“What’s wrong Rae?”

Rachel shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it.”

Steve sighed and pulled Rachel towards him, until she was in between his legs, her back to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her, “Loki did tell me everything, you know.”

“I figured,” she responded as a tear slipped from her eye.

“If there was something that I could’ve unconditionally protected you from, it would’ve been knowing what it feels like to take a life.”

“But,” her voice trembled, “She was a bad person.”

“And you still feel guilty.”

“Will it ever stop?”

“Hopefully not,” Steve said seriously. When Rachel turned around with surprise on her face, Steve jokingly explained, “It means you still have a conscience. So instead we’ll hope that you can have peace with what’s happened.”

“With what I’ve done,” Rachel said bitterly.

“You did what had to be done.”

Rachel sighed and suddenly thought of Raina. She immediately started to move away from Steve.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to find Raina,” she responded by ways of explanation. As she finally got out of the bed, there was a knock on the door, which caused Steve to smile and say, “I think she needed to find you too.”

Rachel smiled at him and walked to the door, giving Steve one last glance before saying, “Don’t go anywhere,” she said quietly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Rachel smiled before opening the door to see Raina standing on the other side of it.

“Hey kid.”

“Hey Rae.”

“How are you doing Rain?” Rachel asked as she stepped outside of her bedroom and quietly shut the door.

“I don’t know.”

“Hey, do you wanna go to the roof?” Rachel grinned immaturely.

“Tony told us never to go up there though.”

“Since when have you ever been one to follow the rules?” Rachel laughed as she led Raina towards the elevator. They stopped after a couple of floors to get a bottle of vodka. After that, they went the rest of the way up, Jarvis warning them that he would have to inform Tony of their whereabouts as soon as they reached the roof. When they finally made it to the roof, Rachel and Raina walked close to the edge before sitting down, Rachel opening the bottle.

“How are you feeling, you know, about everything?” Rachel asked uncertainly after they had both taken their first drink.

Raina sighed, “I- I can’t really describe it. I can’t even remember it all and when I do remember, it’s like I’m watching a movie.”

Rachel put her arm around Raina, “It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, but if I had just been stronger-”

“Stop,” Rachel commanded, “It was a monster that has probably been around since the dawn of time. Even Amora-” Rachel paused after she said the Enchantress’s name and took another swig of the vodka before she continued, “She couldn’t even fight him. You can’t blame yourself.”

“I killed Steve,” Raina said soberly, “I killed a person. A person who’s done nothing except be my friend and love my sister.”

“Let’s not think of it as killing him; it was more like putting him in a very bloody and literally heart-stopping coma.”

“Somehow that doesn’t help Rae.”

“It helps me.”

“Really?” Raina asked with surprise.

“No,” Rachel admitted.

“Are you still mad at me?”

Rachel sighed after a moment and said, “I don’t think mad is the right word. I think just general discomfort is better, but I’m trying not to be uncomfortable around you. You’re my best friend. And I know that it wasn’t mentally you, but, I mean, I watched you kill him Rain and that image isn’t going to disappear.”

“You can kill Loki if it’ll make us even.”

Rachel glanced over with a half-smile on her face, “The only reason you’re saying that is because you know I’m not going to take you up on that. I’ve killed enough people as it is.”

“Technically Amora wasn’t a person.”

“A life is a life, no matter how small.”

“Or evil, in this case.”

“We’re killers now kid.”

“Are we gonna go on the run? Like Bonnie and Clyde? Or Thelma and Louise?”

“Uh, no. They die at the end of those films. We want to live.”

“We should probably go to a therapist.”

“Do they have those on Asgard?”

Raina shrugged, “No idea.”

Rachel laughed, “Well, you’ll have to come down for weekly visits then. Hope the Bifrost can get fixed soon.”

“Do you think we made a mistake coming here?”

“No. I think the mistake was made when you decided to run up to some very well dressed cosplayers,” Rachel smiled as Raina started to giggle.

“So that’s where we went wrong.”

“Or the part where we fell in love with comic book characters,” Rachel supplied.

“Yeah, that could’ve had something to do with it,” Raina laughed.

The two women sat in silence for a few moments before Raina asked, “What about me and you? Are we going to be okay?”

“We’re always okay kid.”

“Except that you can’t look at me.”

Rachel turned her head so that she was looking at Raina, “Yes I can. In fact,” Rachel smirked, “I can even hug you so tight,” she said as she wrapped her arms around Raina, “That you’ll black out for a minute.”

Rain hugged Rachel back tightly for a moment before starting to pull away, “You were joking about making me black out, right?”

Rachel laughed as she let go of Raina, “Eh, if you drink enough alcohol, you’ll black out anyway.”

“So true,” Rain smiled as she picked the bottle out of Rae’s hand and took a long drink.

“Damn kid, are you really trying to black out?”

“I need something to help me sleep,” Rain said seriously.

“I thought that that’s what Loki’s for,” Rachel teased.

“Yeah, well, he can’t stop the nightmares,” Rain returned with an edge of bitterness in her voice.  
Rachel frowned at Rain’s words, “If I could help you, you know I would. Besides, if we didn’t have nightmares about all of this, then we wouldn’t really be human.”

“Are you trying to give me the ‘at least you still have a soul’ speech?” Raina asked incredulously.

“No,” Rachel smiled, “I was going for ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ kid.”

“Same thing.”

“Not really.”

Raina sighed, “But, really, do we know of any good therapists?”

“No.”

“How about we ask Tony?”

“Ask Tony what?”

“Took you long enough,” both women answered simultaneously.

“I hate when you do that,” Tony said as he walked towards them.

“We know.”

“Hey, can you do me a favour?”

“Depends,” Raina responded.

“Can you two move away from the edge? We’re really high up, plus you two have clearly been drinking.”

“Sure,” Rachel laughed.

“It was getting kinda chilly up here anyway.”

Tony relaxed and gave them a slight smile as they inched away from the edge of the roof and towards him.

“And just for good measure, you wanna come inside?”

“Yes Tony, we won’t worry you,” Rachel started.

“With the thoughts that we might jump off your roof,” Raina continued as they walked towards the door together.

“Because it’s bad press, right?” Rachel finished.

Tony groaned, “Steve told you about that, huh?”

“We have no secrets.”

“Wait, I thought we had no secrets,” Raina whined.

“Well we don’t.”

“Does that mean that Steve and I have no secrets?”

“If you really want to think of it that way,” Rachel commented.

“Normally I’d want to separate you two, but I don’t think that anything can make either of you more normal,” Tony said as he ushered the two inside of the building, rolling his eyes when they started laughing.

“So.”  
“Tony.” Raina finished.

“Yeah creeps?” Tony asked with an eyebrow raised, feeling that something bad was about to happen.

“I had some pranks in mind; care to help us with them?”

“Depends.” Tony crossed his arms as he looked at the two women. “How dangerous are they and will I be a target?”

“Obviously if we're asking you to help then it's kind of going to be hard to get you with them.” Rachel stated.

“Besides, it involves your technology prowess. So you want in?”


	24. Chapter 24

Loki had been sleeping soundly the whole night until, suddenly, someone began to shake him awake.

“Loki! Loki! Loki!” Raina's quiet voice broke through his slumber as she continued to call his name. At first he groaned, before rolling over and away from her. When Raina noticed that he was not going to get up, she switched to plan B. Bracing herself on the edge of the bed first, Raina launched herself up and over top the bed, landed roughly on top of Loki.

“Are you kidding me!” Loki shouted, his hands shooting up to grab Raina around her stomach, making sure she did not do anything else. Raina just smiled up at him as she moved to throw her arms around his neck.

“You know I love you right?”

“What do you want love?” Loki half sleepily asked, seeing the pout on Raina's face and knowing that she wanted something.

“Damn you caught me, besides it's not like you won’t enjoy it anyways.”

“Rain.” Loki interrupted the beginning of her would-be rant.

“Ah, right. Rachel, Tony, and me have set up some pranks for the others, but I need your magic-y self for some other things and to alter some of our pranks we've already set up. So will you do it?”

“When it comes to being mischievous, of course.” He grinned at her, placing a kiss onto her lips.

“Thought so.” Raina spoke against his lips.

+~*~+

The next day began bright and early for the most of the Avengers as the most of them slowly made their way to gather in the kitchen for breakfast, unknowing all the mischief that had been prepared for them that day.

“Holy shit!” Gwen shouted as Bruce and she quickly maneuvered to escape the seemingly falling tiles of the elevator floor. Luckily Gwen had grabbed onto Bruce's hand as it happened, unconsciously instilling calmness into Bruce while she herself nearly had a heart attack. Upon finding themselves still standing, the doors opened and the two stepped out cautiously. “I'm going to kill Rain when she gets up! Are you okay Bruce?”

“Yeah. A little shaken but otherwise fine.” Bruce replied as he regained his composure.

The elevator returned back to the living quarters floor where it picked up Tony, Pepper, Steve, and Thor. Seconds into the ride the floor once again seemingly dropped down.

“What trickery is this?!”

“What the hell?!”

“Tony!”

Tony remained silent, laughing to himself as he watched them scramble into the corner away from the falling tiles. Once they figured out they were not going to actually fall through the floor the three looked over to Tony in betrayal.

“What?” The playboy feigned innocence once he noticed their staring.

“What the fuck Tony?”

“I know this has to be Rain's idea, but you're in on it too?” Steve questioned, Thor, Pepper, and him still having looks of confusion on their faces.

“Yeah Rain kinda asked for my assistance. And for the record, Rachel was in on it too.” Tony defended, his hands held up in front of him. The elevator reached the kitchen floor and they all headed into the kitchen to join Gwen and Bruce.

“You could've at least told me Tony.” Pepper, still aggravated at him, complained as they made their way into the kitchen.

“Where's the fun in that? Enjoy the elevator ride?” Tony asked Gwen and Bruce sarcastically upon reaching the kitchen..

“Don't tell me you had something to do with it, cus' I know Rains good, but not that good.” Gwen accused him.

“Unfortunately he is indeed in league with Rain.” Thor unhappily answered the woman as he went to grab a box of pop-tarts, only to find several pink cats jumping out of the cabinet and running out of the room, disappearing once they went through the doorway.

“Were those Nyan Cats?” Gwen was the first to speak. Not having any idea what a 'Nyan Cat' was, the others gave her several strange looks, Pepper immediately whipping her head around to send a glare at Tony.

“I had nothing to do with that.” Tony spoke up before anyone could accuse him. At that time Natasha and Clint arrived at the tower, walking into the kitchen to join the others.

“Wow you two seem to have taken that prank well.” Gwen noted as she saw Natasha's calmness.

“What prank?” The older woman asked confused.

“Did you not take the elevator?” Tony questioned. “Cause it's not any fun otherwise if you didn't, and we are like 30 stories up so that's some stair stepping.”

“What's wrong with the elevator?” Clint spoke up.

“Morning my dear victims!” Raina skipped into the kitchen, interrupting the conversation, with Loki and Rachel in tow.

“What else do you have in store for us today?” Bruce amused with a slight smile.

“Oh.”

“You'll see.” Rachel finished.

After breakfast the group had dispersed and gone their separate ways about the tower. Tony had gone to his lab to work on some new Iron Man suit ideas, only to find he could not understand Jarvis in the least bit.

“Jarvis speak English!” He kept asking, only to have Jarvis respond in what seemed to be some type of Russian. He ended up heading to the living room floor where the most of the others were gathered.

“'Sup Tony.” Raina smiled mischievously from her spot on the couch, Loki donning a smirk as well beside her with Rachel on the other side of him, and lastly Steve beside her. Clint was in one of the lounge chairs, then Bruce and Gwen were hanging out on the other chairs.

“What did you do to Jarvis kid?”

“I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout Tony. Anything wrong with you today Jarvis?”

“Not that I am aware of Miss Fox.”

“See! He's speaking in Russian or something!”

“I believe that is the English language that you programed him to speak, and he is indeed speaking it.” Clint spoke up sarcastically.

“What?! No, all I hear is freaking Russian!” At this time Raina and Rachel were leaning over Loki, bumping their fists before settling back into the couch.

By this time Tony had begun to develop a migraine as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Okay, you know what, I'm just going to go back into my lab and work quietly without Jarvis.” With that said, Tony turned and headed back to his lab.

“Give it another twenty minutes then lift the spell.” Raina mumbled to Loki once Tony had left the room.

“Seriously you guys, what else do you have planned?” Gwen asked the trio again.

“A prank isn't a prank if you know what is going to happen.” Bruce told her.

“Yeah, that's why-

“We're totally not going to tell you.” Rachel finished, the two of them turning to face Gwen with smirks on their face. Gwen groaned before turning around away from their gaze.

Later that night as everyone gathered in the kitchen, to rummage for alcohol to go with their Chinese take-out, they were still trying to figure out what other possible pranks Raina, Rachel, and Loki had set up.

“All your wontons are belong to me!” Raina shouted in a sort of battle cry as she shoved through everyone to grab the container, only to have Rachel levitate them out of her reach. “No fair dude.”

“The wontons are for everyone Rain.” Rachel scolded at the now pouting Raina.

“Fine, but I get my own booze bottle.” Rachel rolled her eyes at the younger woman's immaturity.

Minutes later everyone had settled down at the table with a plate full of various Chinese foods and, except for some of the group, a glass (or bottle) of alcohol. At first it was fairly quiet, save for the occasional conversation. Finally, someone went to take a sip, breaking the silence effectively with a shout.

“What the fuck is this; it tastes like soy sauce!” Tony exclaimed, his head moved to the side away from anyone as his spit the drink out. Clint warily went to take a sip.

“Seems fine to me.” The archer shrugged. The others began to look suspiciously at their own drinks. Rachel cringed as Natasha was next to take a sip, knowing the two already have a bad relationship as it is. A few seats down, Raina and Loki both continued to eat at their food quietly, glancing around at all the reactions as they did so. Rachel let out a sigh of relief as Natasha's drink seemed to be fine as well.

“Oh god what the hell!” Gwen exclaimed as she pulled away from her drink. Steve managed to down his sip as he quickly swallowed, turning towards Raina once he managed to keep his drink down a few seconds.

“What did you do?”

“Why does everyone blame me? You know there is an actual god of mischief here,” Raina motioned to Loki beside her. “And I wasn't in this alone you know, little miss responsible there was in on most of it too.” Raina defended as she motioned over to Rachel.

“Rachel is this true?” Thor asked looking over at the young woman.

“Most of the pranks yes, though I might have been told about the drink one and didn't actually help with that.” Rachel shrugged as she spoke her explanation.

“Then explain why the two assassins over here are unaffected?” Tony demanded Raina.

“Simple, long and overdo compensation from a prank gone too far.”

“Wow I can't believe you actually still remember that kid. I'm impressed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while, I had spring break and was without internet and then I forgot. Next chapter though, if it hasn't come in a week, yell at me because it's the one that still needs to be written.
> 
> And thank you all for reading
> 
> ~Jade


	25. Chapter 25

Steve stretched and reached out for Rachel, pulling her close and wrapping an arm around her. He settled back down and started to drift back to sleep, only to wake up again when he felt someone run their fingers through his hair. Steve was immediately concerned as Rachel had never once run her fingers through his hair while he slept. Steve opened his eyes and saw two large stormy gray eyes looking at him.

“Hey there.”

Steve’s eyes widened and he moved away, only to roll off of the bed, of which he had apparently been on the edge.

“You okay?”

“Raina, what the fuck!?”

“Oh my God Steve, you cursed!” Raina yelled, “Captain America just said ‘fuck!’ This is the best day ever!”

“What happened?” Steve asked as he sat up, “Why are you in my room? Where’s Rachel? Why were you in the bed? What happened?”

“You know you said ‘what happened’ twice right? And I was only watching you while you were sleeping Steve, you’re really pretty, you know.”

“Raina!”

“What!?” Raina said as she leaned over the edge of the bed, laying down and crossing her legs in the air, “Why are you yelling at me Steve? I thought that you’re supposed to be calm and collected.”

Steve glared at her, “Was it you or Loki?”

“Why? Do you wanna know who to kill?”

“Rain, what did you do to Rachel?”

“Nothing bad dude, she’s my best friend.”

“Raina!”

Jane yawned as she stretched, putting her hand underneath her pillow. As she pushed her hands further under the pillow, her hand came in contact with something sharp. Jane propped herself on her elbows and pulled the object that she had cut herself out from under the pillow. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at Thor, gasping when she saw an assassin, lying on his back, his left hand on his stomach and the other hand suspiciously placed underneath his pillow.

“Uh,” Jane said, lightly touching Clint’s arm.

Clint suddenly moved, grabbing Jane, who yelped in surprise and fear, and bringing the knife that was evidentially in his hand up to her throat. Clint blinked, his eyes focusing on her when he heard her, “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know!” She responded in a high pitched voice.

“Are you bleeding?”

“Uh, no, you didn’t-”

“I meant your hand.”

“Oh,” Jane said, looking down, “Yeah, I guess. There was a knife under the pillow.”

“Shit, sorry, that would’ve been Natasha-” Clint cut off his words when he realised that Natasha wasn’t with them, “Where is she?”

“I don’t know, I just woke up.”

“Yeah,” Clint said, looking down at Jane’s body and realising that she was only wearing a tank top and short running shorts, before quickly and respectfully averting his eyes from her body, “I see that. We need to go find everyone else and see where Rain put them.”

“What?”

“Raina,” Clint repeated as he got out of the bed, “She probably did this.”

“But how?”

Clint just shook his head, “Probably Loki. Let’s wrap your hand up first though.”

Bruce blinked his eyes and stretched before looking over for Gwen. Bruce blinked a few more times, trying to register why his girlfriend’s hair was no longer blonde, but now had red in it. He poked her, “Gwen,” he yawned, “I think Raina did something to your hair again.”

“What?” he heard a voice ask.

“Pepper?”

The woman in question looked up at him, “Bruce, why are you in my room?”

“Uh, Pepper, I hate to tell you this, but you’re in my room.”

“Why?” Pepper asked, sitting up.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Pepper looked around, “So that’s where Tony’s chairs went.”

She was referring to the rolling chairs that had once been in Tony’s lab, until Bruce came to visit and Tony had refused to let Bruce sit in the other one. Tony had told that Bruce that he needed both chairs, just in case the one that Tony was using broke. 

Bruce’s cheeks turned slightly red, “Uhh.”

“It’s okay Bruce,” Pepper laughed, “He deserved it.”

Bruce exhaled, “It was still pretty immature.”

“And now he has five and only sits in one,” Pepper shrugged.

“Five you say?”

Pepper giggled, then said, “I’m gonna go and try to figure out where Tony is.”

“Okay, I’m going back to bed.”

“What about Gwen?”

“It was probably Loki or Raina who did this, so she’ll be used to it.”

Gwen woke up to a heavy hand on her waist. She shifted slightly, moving onto her stomach and burying her head into the pillow. Gwen yawned and wrapped her arm around her pillow, settling back down and falling back to sleep. Moments after she had fallen asleep, she was woken up by snoring next to her. Gwen giggled to herself, knowing that Bruce would only snore when he was truly sleeping deeply. She lifted herself off of the pillow and turned to see a blonde demi-god next to her, which caused her to scream and attempt to move out from under Thor’s grasp, only to roll off of the bed entirely.

“Lady Guinevere?” Thor asked with confusion, leaning over the edge of the bed and looking down at her.

“I told you,” Gwen said breathlessly, trying to slow her heart rate, “There is no ‘Lady’ in my name and just Gwen is fine, okay?”

Thor nodded, “Why are you in the place of Jane?”

“Uh, I don’t know, did we get drunk last night?”

“I do not remember consuming any ale, Midgardian or otherwise.”

“Smoke anything?”

“I do not believe so,” Thor responded with confusion.

“Well, then, I’m at a loss. No idea.”

Thor shook his head and then offered his hand to Gwen, pulling her up easily.

“Wow, thanks.”

“Do not concern yourself with it.”

“I’m still appreciative,” Gwen smiled.

Thor smiled before smiling at her, “Now, we must fine Jane and Banner.”

“Bruce is probably in his room, if only girls are being moved,” Gwen said logically.

“Then let us hope that Jane and you were switched.”

Tony rolled over and wrapped his arm around Pepper’s waist, burying his head in her hair. He lightly caressed her arm with the tips of his fingertips, “Morning Pep,” he whispered. Tony yawned before repeating himself, knowing that soon she’d have to get up for work. He was surprised when, quite suddenly an elbow met his ribs, causing him to open his eyes and roll over, onto his back.

“Pepper, what the-” Tony’s question was prematurely cut off by a forearm to his throat.

“Why are you here?”

“Can’t breathe,” Tony gasped out, causing the pressure to be lessened somewhat on his throat.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s my room,” Tony exclaimed, “And didn’t anyone ever tell you not to go around attacking people?”

“It’s part of my job Stark.”

“Well you don’t have to do it to me.”

“Why am I in your bedroom?” Natasha accused.

“What the- Seriously? I thought you were Pepper!”

“Where’s Clint?”

“I just woke up if you didn’t get that,” Tony said sarcastically “Besides, Clint is an assassin, I’m more worried about Pepper.”

“Mister Barton is in his quarters,” Jarvis supplied helpfully.

“Well there ya go,” Tony said as Natasha got up.

“But why am I in here? It doesn’t-”

“Jarvis,” Tony started as he sat up, “Mind filling us in on the details?”

“Miss Fox was frequenting other bedrooms during the late night or early morning hours, depending on your preference.”

“I’m going to kill her,” Tony and Natasha said simultaneously.

Rachel felt an arm around her waist and allowed herself to be pulled into the warm arms. She let out a sigh as she curled her arms underneath her head and rested it against what she thought was Steve’s chest, sleep not allowing her to realise the difference in body types. When she felt a pair of lips brush against her forehead, she realised that something was different. With a racing heart, she slowly pulled away, only to see the sharp and angular features that most definitely did not belong to Steve.

On instinct, Rachel pulled her arm back and punched the sleeping god in the face. His bright green eyes met her dark blue ones in shock. Rachel then pushed him away from her, using her arms and legs, one of which, caught Loki in the groin as he was, quite suddenly, shoved off of the bed while Rachel screamed, “What the fuck are you doing?!”

“Why?” he cried out as he fell, an odd sense of déjà vu hitting him as hard as he hit the floor.

“Why am I in your room?” Rachel asked, slightly calmer.

“I know not the reason for your sudden appearance,” Loki said, his voice slightly higher than usual.

Rachel slid off of the bed and sat next to Loki, “Are you hurt?”

“Only my face, pride and back,” he responded sarcastically.

“I don’t know why I ever bother being nice to you,” Rachel said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

“Yes, because shoving me out of a bed and hitting me in the face is nice,” Loki said, sitting up, wincing as he did.

“In my defense, you weren’t Steve.”

“What defense is that?”

“Well, you know, with…everything, I just kind of wake up violently.”

Loki’s face turned to one of understanding before he cleared his throat, “Shall we attempt to find your Captain and Rain?”

“I don’t think it’s supposed to rain today Loki,” Rachel smirked before standing up.

Loki’s mouth turned into a frown, “Rachel, I tire of that so-called joke.”

“Well,” Rachel said, offering her hand to Loki, “Stop giving me an opening for it.”

Loki reached up and took Rachel’s hand before yanking her to the ground, her head barely missing the bed. He stood up and took a moment to enjoy the fact that Rachel was sprawled on the ground.

“Loki!” She scolded as she sat up.

“That is nothing compared to the pain that you attempted to cause me,” the god returned haughtily, taking only a couple of steps before being tripped by Rachel, who stuck her foot in his way.

“Damn you mortal!”

“You started it!”

“You are the one who attacked me first!”

“Not my fault!”

“I fail to see your lack of blame!”

“Shut up; let’s go find Steve and Rain!”

By the time that Loki and Rachel had stopped arguing and gotten dressed, Rachel after having stopped off in her room, Jane, Clint, Tony and Pepper had gathered in the communal kitchen for a late breakfast as the quarreling pair saw as they walked into the room.

“I knew it,” Tony said.

“Damn,” Clint responded, passing Tony a twenty.

“You made bets?” Rachel asked, rolling her eyes.

“Well, at the time, it was still a toss-up between where you, Gwen and Raina had gotten to, so I knew that if she had thrown Natasha in my bed, she threw you in hers.”

“How was that wake up?” Rachel asked as she came to sit at the island, followed by Loki.

“Did you hit him? Please tell me that you did.”

“In my defense-”

“There is no defense to-”

“Brother, why is-”

“I do not wish to speak on the matter!”

“Whoa,” Gwen said as she and Bruce entered the room, “Why is he so angry?”

“He’s just mad cuz I accidentally punched him in the face.”

Clint, who was now staring at Loki’s bruised eye, “Nice hit Rae, very direct. Clearly your training paid off. Steve’s gonna be proud.”

“Where is-”

“Why would I be proud?” Steve asked, coming in from the living room area.

“Look at Loki’s face.”

Steve walked around to the other side of the island and inspected Loki’s face, his brows knitting in concern, “What happened?”

“Rae happened,” Tony smirked.

Steve’s eyebrow rose and he looked over to Rachel with a smile, “I am proud,” he said before he looked back at Loki, who was now glaring daggers at him, “Looks like a direct hit. Left or right?”

“Left handed.”

Steve looked back at Rachel and nodded, “Good, that’s really good,” he praised before he remembered Loki, “But we’re sorry that you had to be used as target practice.”

“I’m not,” Tony and Clint responded simultaneously.

“Wow, I keep doing that.”

“It’s fun, isn’t it Tony?”

“No.”

“Sure,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes before turning and grinning at Steve, who only chuckled.

“Well, where the hell is Rain?”

“It’s not supposed to-”

“If you say that one more time,” Loki started to threaten, only to be cut off by Steve, Tony and Clint as they all started to threaten him.

“Hey, stop being mean to Loki,” Raina chastised as she came into the room.

“Well now that you’re here,” Clint started, getting a dirty look from Loki.

“Alright everyone,” Rachel said, “Calm down. I don’t want to break up any fights.”

“Right now,” Natasha interrupted as she came into the room, “You don’t have to; we’re all expected in the helicarrier.”

“Don’t we get one day off?” Tony asked exasperatedly as Steve leaned across the island and kissed Rachel, “I’ll see you later.”

“No,” Natasha stated, answering Tony and contradiction Steve’s statement, “They’re supposed to come with us,” she said, indicating Rachel, Raina and Gwen.

“That’s not going to happen,” Steve said firmly.

“But the Director’s ordered-”

“You really shouldn’t try to convince us on ‘because the director said so’ Natasha,” Tony cut in angrily.

“Yeah but it’s not like we want them to go,” Clint defended, “We have to because-”

“We don’t have to do anything,” Tony argued, “We’re the Avengers.”

“But that doesn’t mean that we can just go do whatever the hell we want-”

“Actually,” Bruce interrupted, “We kinda can.”

“It doesn’t matter, we need to go and we need to bring them with us,” Natasha said with finality.

“No,” Steve said, “We don’t need to bring them with us; it’s not like they need to talk with-”

“Actually Cap,” Tony interjected, “I think you mean interrogate.”

“Will you please stop behaving like children?”

“Rain’s not going anywhere,” Loki said.

“You can’t tell her where and where not to go,” Rachel argued, gaining a glare from Loki, “And that goes for the rest of you; we’re big girls now,” Rachel continued sarcastically, “And we can make our own decisions.”

“Rae, you don’t understand-”

“Tony, have you forgotten where we’re from? I actually understand and know more than you do.”

“But-”

“Jesus Rae, you try and stop a fight and start another, way to go,” Gwen said, causing Rain to laugh.

“She does that a lot.”

“You’re still not going,” Loki said.

“No, I am,” Rain returned, “We’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be interrogated,” Steve reminded them, “When you don’t need to be.”

“Now isn’t the time; it’s too soon,” Bruce said.

“Fine,” Natasha said, “You can tell Fury why you didn’t want them to come and I’m sure he’ll just decide that it’s completely fine and we should definitely wait while they continue to forget important details.”

“Enough,” Thor finally said, “We shall go and we will explain to him in a calm manner why we do not want him to interview Rain, Rachel and Guinevere.”

Thor for once looked so serious that it reminded everyone that he was in fact a god and no one dared contradict him. After a few strained farewells, the Avengers left Jane, Pepper, Rachel, Raina and Gwen. When they were out of earshot, Gwen looked over at Rain and said, “I hate you for telling him my full name.”

“Why?” Jane asked, “It’s such a pretty name.”

“It’s stupid and cumbersome and I don’t like it.”

“But Guinevere Luna,” Raina started, “I like your-”

Raina didn’t get to finish her statement as Gwen had jumped at Rain to hit her, making her duck, just before she ran away, Gwen following close behind.

“Sometimes I hate when they do that,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so very sorry about the delay, but I'm just going to finish up everything and post it today so that the series will be complete and I hope that in some small way this will make up for the summer of not posting.


	26. Chapter 26

It was late at night when Raina awoke, restless, and decided to go watch some television in the living room. Silently, she managed to untangle herself from Loki’s grasp and threw on a couple of clothes. 

“Keep the lights off for me Jarvis,; I don’t wanna wake up anyone.” Raina whispered as she slipped through the hallway. Jarvis did not answer, but lit up several small lights along the floor to help Raina find her way to the living room. “Thanks.” 

As Raina stepped foot into the living room, she paused. Sitting on the couch was Rachel, laptop on her lap, with the television in the background on a low volume. She could tell that Rachel was still in a bad mood from the argument that had ensued when the Avengers had gotten back from the Helicarrier; Steve, Tony and Bruce didn’t want Rachel, Rain and Gwen to go to be interviewed while Thor, Clint and Natasha thought that it would’ve been better to already have gotten it over with. Wordlessly, the younger woman took a seat on the couch next to her friend. The two sat in silence for a few moments with Raina watching the television. Rachel had turned it onto The Weather Channel out of habit. 

“This feels familiar.” Raina spoke up finally. Rachel’s typing stopped as she turned to look at her younger friend.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Rachel agreed after she thought on it a few seconds. “Do you ever miss it?”

“Sometimes. I mean, there are so many comics and books and stuff that I left back there. And the food dude, it’s all goin’ to be so spoiled.” Raina turned and gave Rachel a heartfelt look. 

Rachel turned to face her as well, returning the look. Seconds later, the two burst into laughter.

“That was beautiful kid.” Rachel said once the two managed to calm down.

“I try, but seriously, do you miss that house as much as I do?”

“Truthfully, I do, but, I do see this place as my new home. Though, I’d hate to see the state it’s in now.” Rachel replied sarcastically. The two grew silent, Rachel going back to her typing and Raina putting her full attention back to the television.

“So, whatcha writtin’?” Raina finally asked, leaning over to the other woman.

“A thing.” Rachel answered as she continued to type. Raina leaned over even more, the top half of her body over Rachel’s arm and an arm lying in Rachel’s lap.

“What kinda thing?”

“Get off kid!” Rachel grunted, picking up her laptop with both of her arms as she leaned over to the other side, holding the computer up in the air to avoid the younger woman.

“I just wanna know!”

“Go watch TV or have sex with Loki, just leave me alone!”

“Loki’s asleep and I’ve already forecasted the next week better than The Weather Channel people.” Raina groaned.

“Then go wake up Loki and tell him you want to have sex!”

“Fine!” Raina let out a yawn, stretching her arms wide. “Well, I hope you have fun with yourself and be alone then.” 

“Keep it down for once, ‘kay kid?” Rachel smirked to Raina as the younger woman stood.

“Oh har har, but I make no promises.” Raina rolled her eyes as she began to walk out the room. 

“Get some sleep tonight will ya’ Rae?”

“I make no promises.” Rachel returned. Raina let out a snort as she walked out of the room and headed back to her and Loki’s room. She found Loki to still be sleeping, his arm that had been around her waist, which she placed at his side when she got up, was now thrown across her side of the bed while he lay on his stomach. Raina stripped back down to what she had been wearing prior and crawled onto the bed. Straddling him from behind, Raina sat herself on top of him, laying against his back.

“Loki.” Raina whispered into his ear once she had lain her head against his shoulder. ”Loki.” She tried again when he did not answer. “Loki!” Raina attempted again, this time drawing out the ‘o’ in his names for several seconds.

“What is it Rain?” Loki groaned finally, in a mumbled voice since his face was half pressed into his pillow.

“I have this idea and I need your magic for it.”

“Is it not too late for your antics Rain?”

“No pranks, it’s a present for Rachel.” Loki made a move to turn over, so Raina leaned over to the other side of the bed and tumbled off of him, bouncing as she hit the bed and sat up. Loki moved to lie on his side to face the young woman, while leaning he leaned his head up against an arm. “Good, you are listening.”

“What is this about a present then?” Loki asked, more awake now as he looked over at the hyper woman.

“The old house. How hard would it to be to move it from the other realm to over here?”

“Being at my full capacity for magic at the current moment, it is doable.” 

“Good. Now good night.” Raina flopped down onto the bed, her head gently hitting the pillow. Loki stared at her unmoving form for a few moments, slightly upset that she had woken him up and that she was now sleeping. He let out a sigh before laying back down as well, throwing an arm around her waist to pull her close as he tried to get back to sleep.

+~*~+

Rachel’s eyes fluttered open slowly as her body felt that it was morning time. She glanced over to Steve and found him awake as well. “Morning.” She muttered, stretching slightly before settling back into the comfort of the bed and Steve. 

“Good morning Rae.”

“Think we can get away with no responsibility today?” Steve sarcastically asked. Rachel opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off as a quick knocking came from their bedroom door.

“Dammnit.” Rachel groaned before getting up.

“Rae!” Raina’s voice came through the door. “You and Steve and dressed, we’re goin’ on an adventure!”

“What, why?” Rachel called, but got no answer as Raina was heard running and giggling down the hallway. About half an hour later, Rachel and Steve both stepped out of their room to find Raina and Loki standing outside their bedroom. 

“Took you two long enough.” Raina smiled. 

“Yeah well, we weren’t planning on being needed at the exact moment that we had woken up.” Rachel returned. “So what do you have planned for us today kid?” Raina did not answer, but merely glanced to Loki. Before Rachel could ask, the scene quickly changed and both Rachel and Steve found themselves out of the city and in a familiar empty field, except this time, there stood a very familiar two story house.

“Rain…” Rachel gasped, a hand flying to cover her mouth as her eyes watered slightly. “How did- when?”

“I got the idea last night when we were watching The Weather Channel.” Raina shrugged. 

“She awoke me with the idea.” Loki stated, deciding to put in his two cents. Raina gently nudged Loki’s arm with her elbow before she was engulfed into a tight embrace by Rachel.

“Thanks kid.” After nearly a minute the two separated. “Well, let’s go check everything out shall we?” Rachel and Raina linked arms before walking over and up the porch stairs to stand in front of the front door, with both Loki and Steve trailing just behind them. “Wait, you have the keys right?”

“Of course I do.” Raina replied, taking out a set of keys from her pocket and dangling them in front of her face, smiling. 

“Damn, it’s dusty.” Rachel coughed as she waved her hand in front of her face to keep any dust from flying into her face. Raina pulled her shirt collar up and over her nose to avoid the dust.

“Well, it has been a while.” Steve stated, pulling his arm up to cover the bottom of his face. They walked in further to stand in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen. 

“I have to say, you’ve out done yourself kid.” Rachel smiled.

“I try.”

“It's so damn dusty though, maybe you should get Loki to magic it all newer or something.” Rachel sarcastically said as she made her way to the dining room, heading for their laptops that they had left on the dining room table.

“Actually-” Raina stopped mid-sentence as she ran off to where Loki and Steve had, out of habit, gone to the living room. “Loki!” She yelled as she ran into the living room.

“Wait, what, Rain!” Rachel attempted to yell after her friend, but as she turned around to where the younger woman was standing, she found Raina had quickly ran off and out of the room. Rachel shook her head, laughing to herself, as she sat down at the table in front of her computer.

In the living room, Loki and Steve had been looking around the room, nostalgia hitting both of them in their own ways. The two were both startled out of their thoughts by Raina running into the room and all but tackling Loki. With an arm wrapped around Raina's waist and a hand bracing himself on the couch behind him, the demi-god managed to keep himself standing upright.

“Yes, Rain?” Loki questioned the woman once they were both standing up stable.

“I need you to do magic to make the house go back to how it was when we left.”

“Can you even do that?” Steve asked upon hearing Raina's request.

“Of course I can.” Loki rolled his eyes smugly. Raina lightly nudged the demi-god's side. “A moment if you will.” Loki closed his eyes before waving his free hand in the air. There was a flash as everything changed within an instant, with Loki reopening his eyes afterwards. Everything around them seemed to look newer, all the dust was gone and any fabric that had been munched on by bugs or moths, was fixed and looked exactly as they had left it.

“Loki, Rain!” Rachel shouted from the dining room. Raina had stepped away from Loki and was about to go to the other room where Rachel was, but stopped in mid-step as she found Rachel walking into the room. “I was being sarcastic you know.” Rachel told the younger woman. “But thanks, Loki.”

“What is this? Are you thanking me?” Loki gasped sarcastically as he held a hand to his chest.

“Yeah, don't let it go to your head; it's already pretty swollen from your godly ego.”

“Okay, I think we have an understanding you two.” Steve intersected before they could start arguing. Raina smiled as she watched the scene before her, it reminded her of their life back in their original reality, where she set up some sort of simple, stupid prank and everyone would go after her for it, or the other times where Rachel and Loki would be constantly arguing like two five year old siblings.

“You know what we haven't done in a while that we should totally do?” Raina spoke.

“What's that kid?” Raina merely smiled at the other woman's question.

+~*~+

“Just like old times, aye?” Raina said as she looked down the dining table at everyone. Rachel smiled, shaking her head slightly, as she laughed in agreement with her younger friend. The whole group, including Jane and Pepper, had gathered at their old house for a feast of sorts, in celebration of old times. Thor had brought along Jane after Raina had suggested it, saying “She celebrated Christmas with us so why not bring her along?”

Everyone had pitched in with making the vast quantities of food, and how they had managed to fit all the food, everyone's plates, and have all twelve people sitting comfortably at the table was still a mystery. They had various foods prepared, anything from their favourite breakfast items to random dinner foods. Tony had brought a few bottles of wine and, after arguing with Raina that all alcohol brought into the house did not mean it automatically belonged to her, they had managed to pour glasses for whoever wanted to drink wine; Raina was subjected to drinking soda only.

As they ate, the group conversed about all the memories they had made in the other reality. From all of the random pranks Raina, and sometimes Loki, would set up, to all the fights and fun they all had. Everyone was smiling and laughing as they ate, enjoying each other’s comany.

“Exactly like old times.” Rachel muttered to herself, agreeing with Raina's statement made earlier that evening. The woman took a sip of wine as they looked around at everyone, how happy their odd family was.


	27. Chapter 27

Epilogue 1

 

A few months later, Rachel was getting ready to go out with Raina, Gwen, Pepper, Natasha, Jane and Darcy for a girl’s night out while Steve sat on the bed, uncharacteristically pouting.  He had decided that tonight was the night that he was going to ask her to go on vacation with him, and he couldn’t help but feel put out.  Rachel had smiled apologetically, but was still planning to go out, no matter how much Steve implored her to stay.  Rachel had finally gotten ready, wearing a short black dress and red heels.  As she walked past Steve to get her phone, Steve pulled her towards him, kissing her.

 

“Don’t go,” he begged between kisses.

 

“Steve,” Rachel groaned as he rolled them so that he was on top, preventing her from leaving their bedroom.

 

“Yes?” he asked, pulling back for a moment.

 

“I have to go,” she protested as he kissed her exposed neck, moaning when he bit down softly.

 

“You don’t _have_ to,” Steve countered.

 

“I wanted to.”

 

“Past tense,” Steve smirked, “Don’t go,” he muttered as he resumed kissing her.

 

“That’s because someone distracted me,” Rachel countered, her breath hitching as he brought one hand up to cup one of her breasts.

 

“Steve, I love you, but I’m late.”

 

“I love you too,” Steve murmured, “I can’t wait till you’re my wife.”

 

“What?” Rachel asked.

 

Steve, realising what he had said stared at Rachel in shock before sitting up and saying, “What?”

 

Rachel blinked as she too sat up, “You want to get married?”

 

“NO!” Steve nearly yelled, saying the first thing that came to mind.

 

“O-okay,” Rachel said, both feeling and sounding confused.

 

Steve, realisng how much he was fucking up said, “Wait…no.”

 

Rachel looked up at him, “Why wait if you’re still gonna say no?”

 

“I didn’t mean it.”

 

“Steve, which part didn’t you mean? Cuz there’s like three conversations going on here and I’m not sure I’m part of them all.”

 

Steve paused to smile at Rachel’s words while simultaneously collecting his thoughts, “Of course I want to marry you.  Who wouldn’t? I just wanted to propose differently.”

 

“Oh,” Rachel said, biting her lip, trying not to laugh and make Steve feel worse.

 

“Yeah. I had everything planned out, I was going to take you to Paris for a week, then propose on the Eiffel tower.”

 

Rachel’s eyebrows rose, “Well, it’s a good thing you did it this way because I hate Paris.”

 

“What are you talking about?  This was terrible,” Steve groaned as he ran a hand through his hair.

 

“No,” Rachel smiled and cupped his face in her hand, making him look at her before kissing him gently, “It was you.”

 

Steve rolled his eyes as he laughed, “Completely fumbling probably the most important question of my life.”

 

“Well _technically_ you haven’t asked me anything yet.  I’m the one asking all the questions.”

 

Steve smiled, “Wait there.”

 

“Yes sir,” Rachel said with a mock salute.  Steve chuckled and walked over to his dresser and pulled out a black ring box before coming back to kneel on one knee in front of Rachel, who was failing at trying not to smile. He opened the box to reveal a white gold Claddagh ring with a diamond set into the heart.

 

“Rachel Dylan Flyte,” Steve started, his icy blue eyes shining, “Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

 

“It would be my pleasure,” Rachel said, beaming down at Steve.

 

Steve beamed at Rachel before taking the ring out of the box and sliding it onto Rachel’s ring finger.  As soon as it was on, Rachel reached out and held Steve’s face, kissing him hard.  He stood up, bringing Rachel with him, wrapping her legs around his waist before holding her waist with one arm and tangling his fingers in her hair. 

 

Eventually they broke apart in order to breathe and because Rachel’s phone began vibrating.  Steve rested his forehead against hers, “Are you still going to go?”

 

“I kinda forgot that I was supposed to leave for a minute,” Rachel laughed before taking out her phone, “Damn, they all texted me, even Jane.”

 

“So now you’re really late,” Steve murmured as he kissed Rachel’s jaw.

 

“A little,” Rachel chuckled as she let go of Steve’s neck.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Taking a picture.”  She took a picture of her ring finger before sending a group text back to Raina, Gwen, Natasha, Pepper and Jane, only adding the caption “Busy” before sending it to them and then promptly silencing the phone.

 

“And no,” Rachel said, “I’m not going to go. I’ve got more _pressing_ issues at the moment.”

 

“And those would be?”

 

“I simply must have ‘just got engaged’ sex,” Rachel smiled.

 

“That sounds like a great idea,” Steve said, kissing her deeply.  Rachel tossed the phone behind her, on the bed, before wrapping her arms around Steve’s neck.

 

“How did you find out my middle name?” Rachel asked when they broke apart again.

 

“Tony.”

 

“Should’ve guessed,” she giggled.

 

“ _Now_ I can’t wait until you’re my wife,” Steve joked.

 

“And I can’t wait till you’re my husband,” Rachel breathed as she leaned in to kiss Steve again.

 


	28. Chapter 28

Epilogue 2

 

It was around noon time when all the women decided to celebrate Rachel and Steve's engagement.  It was Pepper's idea to gather the other woman to celebrate, with some behind the scenes suggesting from Raina. Currently, they were all gathered in the kitchen, various snack foods, sodas, alcohol, and whatnot were scattered  All together, there was Rachel, Raina, Gwen, Pepper, Natasha, and Jane, all sitting at the bar within the kitchen.

 

“I'm still surprised that you're getting married first instead of me,” Raina laughed as she teased her older friend. “Didn't we always joke about how you were never gonna find the right guy and that I was probably going to be married before you?”

 

Rachel rolled her eyes at her younger friend. “If you're really that jealous then go take it up with Loki.  I'm surprised you two haven't announced anything like that yet.” She shot back.

 

“Yeah, well, he knows I wouldn't care either way and I'm not pushing him to it.  What about you Jane? I'm sure Thor can't wait to make you queen of Asgard whenever he takes the throne.”

 

Not expecting the conversation to take a turn like that, Jane nearly choked on her wine that she had been sipping. “Like you said Rain, Thor will ask when he's ready.”

 

“Hey Nat-” Raina started excitedly.

 

“Don't even ask.” The assassin cut her off before she could even finish the sentence.

 

“No fun!” The younger woman pouted. “Gwen?”

 

“Um, we're taking things slow and calmly.” The woman answered after a few seconds of thought.

 

“Yeah you two would.” Raina teased.

 

“Would you calm down kid, how much soda and cookies have you had?” Rachel questioned as she looked over at her younger friend. Raina had claimed a two liter of mountain dew earlier and had, by now, drank nearly two-thirds of it. Next to her was also an empty container of Oreos, a nearly empty box of chocolate Pop-tarts, and countless crumbs on the table. Raina smiled as she opened up a container of crab meat, that she had brought with her, and began to eat it with saltine crackers.

 

“It's nice to finally have some more women to talk to around here.” Pepper said, turning away from the odd subject of Raina's eating habits. “I'm sure you can agree Natasha.”

 

“I'm sure even she can enjoy taking time off from being a bad ass to chill with other females.” Gwen started to laugh, before everyone else joined in.

 

“It is the women that really control things after all, we just let the men think they do.” Natasha stated.

 

“Yeah Pepper, how many times has Tony come running to you for help? And I'm sure there's been many a mission where you've gotten Clint's ass out of a tight spot, Natasha. And Jane, you probably could bring Thor down to his knees if you wanted to, he would do anything for you dude.” Raina pointed out to the other woman. “Rachel you have telekinesis for crying out loud and a sense of mind control, plus you are you, you can get anyone to listen to you. Gwen can control whether or not Bruce Hulk's out.”

 

“What about you and Loki?” Jane asked, not being as familiar with everyone else yet.

 

“Loki's a little shit.” The younger woman stated out right, earning a chuckle or laugh from the other woman.

 

“Well, it is your favourite thing to say whenever you were reading comics or watching the movies,” Rachel laughed.

 

“Well he is, but I can make him do whatever I want whenever I want.”

 

“Keep telling yourself that kid.”

 

“Oh I will. Ugh, I need some wine; pass me whatever's in that bottle.” Raina pointed to the bottle of red wine that was sitting beside Pepper and Natasha, a wine by the name of 'Wicked'. Pepper pushed the bottle over to the younger woman, along with one of the clean wine glasses.

 

“I was wondering when you would give in, didn't know why you weren't drinking earlier.” Rachel shook her head as Raina poured the red substance into the clear glass. Raina rolled her eyes as she brought the cup to her lips.

 

“Put the glass down Rain.” A voice spoke from behind the group. Everyone turned to find Loki standing behind them, an annoyed look on his face. Raina remained as she was, putting her glass down before turning sideways so she could see both the woman and Loki in her peripherals.

 

“You do know this was a girls only thing?” Gwen asked him.

 

“You know, to celebrate Steve actually managing to ask Rae to marry him?” Raina added.

 

“Rain that's not nice!” Rachel scolded.

 

“Hey! You know how he is!” The younger woman defended, picking up the glass once again.

 

“Rain!” Loki warned again. “We talked about this.”

 

“Oh come on! Just one sip, dealing with women issues is stressful.”

 

“Dude just let her have a sip.” Gwen defended.

 

“Why are you so controlling all of the sudden?” Rachel questioned him, irritated.

 

“I'm not controlling, I am merely looking out for Rain's health.”

 

“You do know one sip isn't going to kill her?” Jane stated.

 

“He's just being protective 'cus I'm pregnant.” Raina finally said as if it was common knowledge.

 

The other woman suddenly froze before turning to gawk at the younger woman. Rachel looked over to Loki, as if asking for an answer, then to Raina; she and the others were honestly half expecting one or both of them to start laughing before admitting that it was a joke. Raina had been looking down to her glass of wine longingly before she started to feel as if she were being starred at.  Finally looking up to face the other women, Raina found various faces of shock, disbelief, and even confusion.

 

“What?” Raina said, breaking the silence.

 

“Did you- Are you- Rain!” Rachel was, for once at a loss for words.

 

“What!” Raina spoke again, going on the defense.

 

“Loki!” Rachel shouted next.

 

“Why are you shouting at me?”

 

“You got Rain pregnant!”

 

“And just why am I to blame?!”

 

“It takes two to get pregnant!”

 

“You of all people should know that Rain has always wanted kids!”

 

“Well, yeah, but, not right now!” Rachel stood from her seat and walked over to stand in front of Loki as the two continued to argue with each other. Those left at the table turned to look at Raina, away from the argument that was obviously not stopping anytime soon.

 

“So, no pranks right now?” Gwen eyed the woman.

 

“Nope.” Raina confirmed, taking the last bite of her crab meat before continuing to eat the crackers plain.

 

“You seem pretty calm.” Pepper pointed out.

 

“That's what Loki said when we both found out, probably just the hormones. Oh, by the way, I'm not allowed to do any pranks anytime soon so you can all be chill for the next nine months.”

 

“Thank God.” Natasha muttered under her breath, taking a giant gulp of her wine.

 

“So, you're having a frost giant's baby?” Jane half asked, half stated.

 

“Shhh, don't let Loki hear you say that, he doesn't like it!”  Raina whispered loudly, giggling after she spoke. The other four gave her weird looks, unsure of what to say.

 

“Raina!” Rachel shouted, turning around to face the younger woman; she had finished lecturing the demi-god and was now going to start on her friend.

 

“Hey Rae, when's the wedding?” Raina asked calmly, giggling before making a run out of the kitchen.

 

“Dammit kid, come back here!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it. That's the end of the series as you know it.
> 
> It doesn't actually mean that we're not going to post other things related to Raina, Rachel and the rest of the gang, but, for now, it's done.


End file.
